Introduction

This story brings back the Dark Kingdom Renegades from my earlier story "Sailor Moon : Refugees". To make a long story short four youma who weren't evil got out of the Dark Kingdom just before the end and tried to vanish unnoticed into Tokyo. This became impossible when an old enemy decided to attack them in their new identities. Things got even more complicated when the youngest of the four decided to appear in public under the name Sailor Polaris. All of this brought their existence to the attention of the Sailor Senshi resulting in a few complications. It ended with the DKR trying to fade into the background again and the Sailors deciding to leave them alone as long as they didn't cause trouble.

Unknown to both groups two other youma had used the DKR's collapsing dimensional gate during the fall of the Dark Kingdom. They were displaced in time and space arriving in a city known as MegaTokyo.

Contents

1. Who are the DKR?

2. Why do those names look familiar?

3. What is Bubblegum Crisis?

4. Who are the Knight Sabers?

5. What connection is there to my other BGC fanfics?

6. How do you tell the difference between Whizzo Butter and a dead crab?

7. Short profiles of the DKR members

1. Who are the Dark Kingdom Renegades?

The DKR is composed of four members of a youma subspecies variously known as Renegades, Heretics and several more obscene names. Lacking the intrinsically destructive nature of normal youmas Renegades were killed on discovery as genetic freaks. The only way for a Renegade to survive was to learn to act like a normal youma. In addition to being Renegades this foursome are humanics. With the exception of unusual hair and eye colors they can pass for human. Like most youma they can cast a glamour spell to make themselves appear completely human. The DKR consists of Calcite, Titanite, Azurite and Pyrite. The name was coined by Titanite, currently she is the only one of them to use it.

2. Why do those names look familiar?

With a Sailor Moon story it's natural to go to the mineral kingdom looking for youma character names. I think I was the first on alt.fan. Sailor-Moon to use those particular names ("Refugees" was posted in February '96) but I can hardly claim copyright on a mineral. I've seen other fanfics with a Calcite (can't remember the title) and an Azurite ("Phoenix Reborn"). There's little chance of confusion as the other Azurite is male and doesn't wear a leather sailor fuku. At least not in public.

3. What is Bubblegum Crisis?

Bubblegum Crisis (BGC) is an anime OAV series from 1987. It's an excellent cyberpunk/superheroine series and here's a little background:

In 2025 AD the second Kanto Quake destroyed most of Tokyo. Hundreds of thousands died and millions more were rendered homeless. The multinational GENOM corporation, best known for their biomechanical androids called Boomers stepped in to rebuild it. Now in 2033 the city has been revitalized, rebuilt and renamed MegaTokyo. GENOM owns most of the city and has made it their corporate headquarters. As Tokyo was restored GENOM has risen to become the greatest commercial power of all time. That is not enough. Behind their benevolent facade the corporation works towards achieving global economic and political domination. A key to this are their various illegal experiments which secretly use the citizens of MegaTokyo as guinea pigs for GENOMs ends. The AD(Advanced)Police, formed to combat high tech crime have become obsolete. Morale is low and casualties high.

Enter the Knight Sabers. Apparently a mercenary group composed of four women with the most advanced powered combat suits on the planet. The truth is they are a force dedicated to keeping GENOM from its goals any way they can. They are best known to the public for destroying rampaging Boomers that the ADPolice can't touch. Sometimes these are genuine berserkers, sometimes GENOM conducting firepower tests using live targets. While the Sabers hate GENOM they cannot destroy it as that would destabilize a world that is increasingly reliant on it. The best they can do is maintain a balance.

4. Who are the Knight Sabers?

There are four members.

Sylia Stingray - The leader of the team and the inventor of the hard suits. Her father, Dr. Katsuhito Stingray died shortly after perfecting first generation Boomer technology. GENOM took over his invention and used it for military applications he had forbidden. Sylia seeks to avenge her father and keep GENOM from profiting from his murder. Sylia wears the white Knight Saber armour. She is cold, hard and brilliant. Think Ami/Sailor Mercury with no sense of humour. 23 at the time of this story. (ages from "BGC : Grand Mal" by Adam Warren, Dark Horse Comics)

Priscilla Asagiri - A rebel with no shortage of causes Priss hates Boomers "Priss" and GENOM intensely. Her hotheadedness makes her prone to taking extreme chances during combat. Were it not compensated for with excellent skill in using her hardsuit she would have died months ago. Despite her hatred of Boomers she became friends (and perhaps more) with two sentient boomers who appeared to be human. She is 20 years old, a singer, and would not take kindly to comparisons with Rei/Sailor Mars. Wears the blue armour

Linna Yamazaki - The most mercenary of the supposed mercenaries Linna still never hesitates to help people without payment. An excellent fighter, possibly better than Priss as she's not as reckless. 21 years old and wears the green armour. As she goes through a lot of boyfriends the best Senshi to compare her to is Makoto/Sailor Jupiter.

Nene Romanova - By far the cutest member of the foursome Nene prefers data gathering and system hacking to combat. Overly fond of sweets which can be a problem when you have to slid into almost skintight armour. While not a fighter by nature she is still far from useless. Closest match to a Senshi - who else but Sailor Moon. By the second series, "Bubblegum Crash" she is still a ditz but has become a lethal fighter making her closer to Minako/Sailor Venus. 19 years old, 22 in the ADP database she wears the Pink Knight Saber armour.

Mackie Stingray - Sylia's 16 year old younger brother. Not really a Knight Saber though he does have a powered suit. Mainly helps with maintenace and repair of the hardsuits along with transporting the Sabers incognito on missions. It is his goal in life to see the Knight Sabers in as many states of undress as possible.

5. What connection is there to my other BGC fanfics?

None. Totally different universes. This story does not impact on "Tokyo Babylon", "Knights' End", "Libel" or "Hurricane Season" (Current project, forthcoming end of August). Hopefully this will prove I can write a BGC story without destroying everyone's life.

6. How do you tell the difference between Whizzo Butter and a dead crab?

The butter is the one without the legs.

[Gratuitous Monty Python Reference. No reason]

7. Short profiles of the Dark Kingdom Renegades

Name - Calcite

Sex - Male

Age - 23

Aliases - Calvin Hobbes, Gray (superhero), Lord Calcite (supervillain)

Hair - Light green

Eyes - Purple

Other distinguishing - Blue blood, green finger and toenails features

Known powers - Superhuman strength, Force shield, Teleportation, glamourcasting, shockwave bursts, psychoplasm generation and shaping. Can transmit energy through his created weaponary.

Comment - The leader of the Renegades and the most powerful member. Normally quick witted and decisive he has a blind spot when it comes to women. Managed to overlook all the negative feature of his youma lover Margrave (presumed dead) and is unaware of Azurite's desire for him. An expert warrior adept in the use of his powers.

Name - Titanite

Sex - Female

Age - 15

Aliases - Titania Hobbes, Sailor Polaris

Hair - Light green

Eyes - Blue

Other distinguishing - Blue blood, green finger and toenails features

Known powers - Superhuman strength, Force shield, Teleportation, glamourcasting, "Polaris Missile" and variations

Comments - Calcite's younger sister and Sailor Senshi Wannabe. Grew up in the Dark Kingdom shielded by the older renegades so she never lost her innocence in the struggle to fit in. An avid anime fan she dreams of one day becoming one of the Senshi. Is currently being trained to use her powers effectively should the need arise.

Name - Azurite

Sex - Female

Age - 22

Aliases - Azure DeWitt, Sailor Arcturus

Hair - Bright blue

Eyes - Red

Other distinguishing features-Green blood.

Known powers - Superhuman strength, Force shield, Teleportation, glamourcasting, wind control, micro hurricane generation.

Comment : The group's other trained fighter. Has no desire to be one of the Senshi, merely created the identity to let her use her powers in public. While she is Pyrite's lover and loves him she has also been in love with Calcite for years. She avoided making a final choice while Calcite was infatuated with the youma Margrave fearing rejection. Now that Calcite is alone she is trying to confront her feelings and make a choice. Does not suspect Pyrite knows this.

Name - Pyrite

Sex - Male

Age - 24

Aliases - Piram Troy

Hair - Black

Eyes - Yellow

Other distinguishing - Blue blood, black finger and toenails features

Known powers - Superhuman strength, Force shield, Teleportation, glamourcasting, Aura blocking, Energy sensitive/manipulator.

Comments : An expert in both theoretical and practical applications of magick based youma "technology". Required Calcite's assistance to survive in the Dark Kingdom and has developed an inferiority complex regarding his cousin. An observer by nature he knows of Azurite's feeling for Calcite. He has avoided confronting her on this fearing he might drive her away. Believes he cannot compete with Calcite if she makes a choice. Thought she was near giving up until recent events left Calcite single again.

Enough background. Go read the story.

*******

Dark Kingdom Renegades/Bubblegum Crisis : Bad Moon Rising

By Mark Latus

Part 1 : Future Shock

Tokyo - The Present

Sailor Polaris moved along the darkened corridor quietly. This abandoned construction site seemed quiet but she knew her enemy was out there somewhere. She was pretty sure he'd taken Sailor Arcturus hostage which meant he was planning to use her as bait. The floor ended ahead of her, she was able to look down to the lobby four stories below. The area was lit by a few working bulbs leaving large patches of shadow. In the center of the lights Sailor Arcturus slumped against the pillar she'd been shackled against.

Obviously a trap but she had to rescue Azurite. Together they could take him, alone it was a just a matter of time. Alright ... he was probably lurking down there somewhere. Blasting him with the Polaris Missile attack would be the best idea but she couldn't see any motion in the shadows. Damn. OK new idea, distract him long enough to free Azurite. Hopefully flushing him out in the process. She concentrated a moment and the forcesphere formed between her hands. Now for her new trick. She focused on the sphere and it silently began fracturing into golfball sized pieces. Now she held a sphere made up of smaller spheres. Right, she thought, here goes nothing.

She launched herself into space and began freefalling towards the captive Senshi. "POLARIS CLUSTER BOMBLET SPECIAL!" The microspheres sprayed across the lobby leaving indentations in the floor. She landed in a crouch hardly feeling the impact and surged towards her comrade. She hadn't hit him, he wasn't waiting in ambush! Where was he?

She was behind the pillar and could see the handcuffs holding Arcturus's wrists together. Easy! She slammed downwards with superhuman strength and the central links shattered. Arcturus whipped her arms from around the pillar and turned to face Polaris. Before Polaris could say anything Arcturus's right hand was around her throat and her head was slammed against the pillar. She saw the red eyes glowing and the left hand spearing towards her face and involuntarily closed her eyes.

An index finger tapped her on the forehead. "Zap, you're dead."

Titanite (aka Sailor Polaris) opened her eyes. Azurite had already released her and smiled at her. From above a voice called down, "Score another one for the badguy." She looked up to see the figure in black leaning over the sixth floor balcony.

Ti was a little peeved. "Come down here and say that!"

"Sure." He vaulted the rail and dropped the six stories cape billowing majestically behind him. Her opponent landed with a theatrical flourish and the helmet with the glowing eyeholes regarded her. "So what's up?"

"I want to see your face for this."

"Fine by me. You are the one who insisted I wear this outfit, remember?" A touch on a wristband and the black with skull motif costume reshaped itself into a light grey sweatsuit. The helmet morphed into a pair of glasses which the wearer removed and slipped into a pocket. Calcite studied his sister. "So what's up?"

"Cal you cheated! It was supposed to be me and Azure against you. You weren't supposed to team up on me!"

Azurite shrugged. "Sorry Ti. Soon as he caught me he hit me with his mind control powers and brainwashed me. I feel very badly about that."

Something clicked for Titanite. "You set this up before we began the exercise!"

"That's right."

"That's cheating!"

Her brother nodded. "Absolutely." His amiable expression vanished to be replaced by a deadly serious look. "I am your enemy. I will do whatever it takes to defeat you. I don't play by any rules or concept of fairness. Never forget that!" His expression softened. "Let's not forget who asked us to train her. Frankly I can think of better ways to spend Sunday morning." Azurite nodded.

Ti hesitated, feeling a little mollified. She could understand what they were trying to teach her but she still felt hard done by. "You could have at least given me a clue."

"You can't count on your enemy being careless. However I did give you a clue."

"You did?"

"He did." Azurite held up her wrists which still had the shattered handcuffs locked around them. "Ti I'm a lot stronger than you. Why could you easily break a chain I couldn't?"

Titanite glared at her but said nothing. "Now don't sulk! By the way Cal ..."

He nodded and touched the cuffs. They melted back into the psychoplasm he'd sculpted from. Instead of letting the psuedomatter disperse he began reshaping it. "OK Ti time for the next part of your lesson." He focused and locked the psychoplasm into its new form. "Catch."

"A baseball?"

"It'll hold that shape about an hour then disperse. It's a lot easier to lock smaller forms. Your job is to at least break the lock early. If you can try to reshape it into something else. You know all the exercises now you just need to practice."

Titanite studied the ball then looked at her brother. "Uh Cal ... so far I've had absolutely no luck with this stuff. Why you're all convinced I've got the potential for the same powers as you I just don't know. Besides you mainly use this stuff to form swords, knives and other stuff. That's fine for you guys but it's not exactly my style. See I'm planning to be a Senshi fighting for love and justice ..." Her voice trailed off as a large wooden mallet appeared in her brother's hand. She studied it with awe.

"It doesn't have to be edged weapons." Her brother examined his newly created hammer critically. "Pity, I thought you'd want to learn how to pull these things out of nowhere like your favorite heroines. I understand they're useful for keeping your boyfriends in line. Still if you really aren't interested ..." The mallet dissolved.

"WAIT!"

"Yes?"

"I've changed my mind." Ti studied the baseball. "Reshape it into something I imagine, huh?"

"That's right. But use the south corridor. Azurite and I'll be using the lobby for an exercise of our own. Don't be worried if you feel the air temperature rise."

She nodded and walked off. Azurite looked at Cal with a certain admiration. "Interesting motivational technique."

"You just have to learn how anime fans think. Not that it's hard with her watching the stuff all the time."

Azurite sighed, "And when she isn't hogging the TV Pyr's watching Star Trek."

"Four youma left and half are otaku. One's a Trekkie and the other's an anime freak."

"Which makes us the only sensible ones."

Calcite glanced over her Sailor Arcturus outfit. "Then we're all doomed, aren't we?"

"Afraid so."

"So it goes. Shall we get on with it?"

"Just a sec. That floor looks a little dusty for this outfit." Azurite tapped her spiked wristband and her senshi outfit morphed into a bright blue tracksuit. She settled to the floor in a crosslegged position. "Give me a minute to get relaxed."

"Take as long as you need. If the power's there it's not going away." Azurite nodded and tried to relax. Time to find out if she was imagining things. A few weeks earlier during Magnesite's impersonation of Zoisite she'd used her wind control powers to toss a fireball back in his face. Thinking back on it afterwards she'd realized that the plasma laced hurricane she'd thrown had seemed hotter than the fireball. Perhaps she'd boosted the intensity somehow with previously untapped plasma based powers. If she had any such ability.

One thing Renegades and ordinary youma had in common was being born with powers. Powers that didn't come with instruction manuals. As you grew up you felt energies surging inside you and tried to feel how they worked. To ask for help was to admit weakness and make yourself vulnerable. So youmas tried to work out their powers for themselves. It wasn't that uncommon for youngsters to immolate themselves before they learned how to control their abilities. One advantage the Renegade subspecies had was they could trust each other. With the result that Calcite, Pyrite and Azurite had been able to help each other perfect control of their para-abilities. They had thought they knew the full range of each others powers but it wasn't unheard of for abilities to be deeply buried and emerge years later. Which was why Calcite was going to look into her mind and see if he sensed anything.

Calcite's telepathic abilities were severely limited. Controlling minds to implant orders and make people think it had been their own idea was one thing. Actually entering someone's consciousness was another. Some telepaths could read anyone's entire life the moment they met them. He couldn't access anyone's mind without a long time rapport with them. He also doubted his ability to do that if the person was conscious and resisting psychic invasion. Not that he wanted to do this. He rarely mindsurfed. Rummaging around in other people's thoughts seemed like a violation to him. But there were times it was necessary.

Azurite indicated she was ready and Calcite knelt behind her. He gently placed a hand on both sides of her head. He wasn't sure the physical contact was really necessary but it seemed to help. Azurite still seemed a bit edgy. "Try to relax. I won't be going anywhere near your thoughts or memories. Matter of fact I can't touch your thoughts."

"It might simplify things if you could. Then you'd finally realize I've been in love with you for years. Back then I didn't say anything because you were mixed up with Margrave. I was afraid you'd chose her over me and that would destroy everything. I had your friendship and that was something and I met Pyrite ... I love him but not the same way I love you ... At least I think that's how I feel ... When I thought Magnesite was going to kill him ... Now Margrave's gone with the rest of the Dark Kingdom and you're single again and I should tell you and finally resolve this but I don't want to hurt Pyrite and what if you rejected me I couldn't take that. I've faced death a dozen times without flinching I'm no coward. Why can't I just talk to you?" Azurite managed to choke off this stream of thought. For now she'd just focus on finding her power. If it existed. She summoned the image of a winter day not long ago and watching the fire burning in the hearth. Focus on that alone. She seemed to feel a light touch inside her head.

Calcite's point of view shifted. His consciousness constructed a visual analog for what he was experiencing. He was walking down a long corridor, apparently a house. Wrong! He focused again and he was in a concrete floored passageway. A power generation plant he decided. Signs rippled into existence on the walls as he imposed his reality on Azurite's consciousness. Ok this way to the generator room. When mindsurfing the trick is to just make a few embellishments and let your host's mind show you the way.

He opened a door and found a room full of outlandish equipment. The giant fan must represent her wind control abilities, the hammering piston her strength, the steel wall in the center of the floor her forceshield. There was a silver statue flowing from one shape to another. That must be her glamourcasting power. These were all known powers. What he needed was some hint of any other powers. He strained his pseudosenses to the maximum. He might sense the powertrace as a sound analog (the crackling of fire), or touch (a heated object) or even taste (smoke in the throat). Wait ... yes over there. He could make out the faint scent of something burning. He took a step towards it when a tremendous crash from outside jolted him back to his own body.

Instantly he was on his feet in battlestance, as was Azurite. Where had that come from? South. "TI!"

Both Renegades plunged down the corridor forceshields glowing. Then skidded to a stop as they saw Titanite standing in front of a wall looking sheepish. "Uhh ... hi guys!"

"Ti what happened?!"

"Umm nothing really Azure ... just one of those things."

Calcite stepped around her. "What are you hiding sister?"

"Don't worry about it big brother I just ..." Calcite could see the the circular hole in the wall she's been vainly trying to cover. It was about the size of a baseball.

"What did you just do?" He peered through the hole, the ball was embedded in a support pillar in the next room.

"Uhh ... well I had this really neat idea ..."

"Tell me about it while we collect the ball."

"Yeah well ... see I wasn't having any luck reshaping the ball then I got to thinking. My Polaris Missile is focused TK, right? Kinetic force. So I got to thinking ... why don't I try using that power to throw a baseball. See the girls team softball tryouts are coming up at school so I thought ..."

"Ti you can already throw a ball harder than almost anyone else in the world."

"Yes but I'm not so hot at aiming. Now with my TK bursts I always hit what I aim at. So I thought if I could learn to use them and just look like I'm throwing the ball I'd be the best pitcher in the school."

Calcite reached into the hole in the pillar and tapped the ball. "I'm not a big baseball fan but I think there's a rule about blowing holes through the catcher."

"I guess it needs a little work." He looked at her. "OK a lot of work."

"Stick to regular pitching. It's a lot safer than using your powers in public." The ball was stuck which could raise questions. Except that it was psychoplasm and would dissolve soon. A thought struck Calcite and he reshaped the ball to the image in his mind. "Well Ti you have found a new use for your powers so you deserve a prize. Here." He handed her the reshaped baseball.

"Oh wow! A Superdeformed Sailor Polaris doll. It's so cute. Wait till Meiko see this ..." A thought struck her. "Hey how long will this hold its' shape?"

"About half an hour so you'd better get to work stabilising it."

Azurite wasn't too surprised to see Ti stick her tongue out at her brother as soon as he turned his back. Cal pretended not to notice. "Right, where were we?"

A few hours later Calcite and Azurite were catching some sun on a bench. Ti had headed off to meet up with some friends after changing her Senshi fuku to jeans and a t-shirt. They looked like a couple who'd been out jogging together. Calcite was saying, "I think we're starting to get somewhere."

"Maybe. Still we're a long way from any anything useful."

"These things take time. Anyway hopefully our fighting days are over."

"Hopefully."

Both fell silent and remembered. The sky had been lit up last night by another one of those energy burst. The press was full of stories (all unconfirmed) of monsters and bizarre events along with dozens of sightings of the Senshi. Something was definitely going on. Luckily, so far, it hadn't impacted on them.

Calcite broke the silence by asking, "Do you think I'm being to hard on Ti with the training."

"Come on! Compared to the way we learned?"

"Different environment. We had to learn fast or die young."

"True." Azurite sighed. "I have to admit Ti's very different from the way I was at her age. Still she's probably adapted to Earth better than any of the rest of us."

"That's because she got to have a childhood. We didn't. We were young once but we were never really children."

"We couldn't afford childhood. We had to make ourselves fit in so we could stay alive." Azurite sounded wistful. "Which is why Ti has an innocence neither of us ever had."

Calcite nodded. "It's also why we've got an edge she doesn't have. One that if she's very lucky she'll never need."

"Let's hope." Azurite paused then added, "You did a good job bringing her up."

"I didn't exactly bring her up. We did have a mother."

"Except when you were 13 you got stuck taking care of a five year old while playing Dark Kingdom power politics. How you managed to do both successfully I'll never know."

"It wasn't alone. I had you and Pyrite to help out."

Azurite shook her head. "You did most of the work. Ti's turned out great, you should be proud ... You'll make a good father someday."

Calcite shook his head. "No chance. Our genetics are too different to interbreed with the humans. As there's a shortage of female youma I'd say I won't be fathering any children. I suppose I could adopt if I ever got married or whatever." Azurite opened her mouth as though to say something then closed it again. Calcite didn't notice. He continued, "Kids probably wouldn't have been Renegades anyway. That's the problem with recessive genes." He paused. "Of course there's no reason you and Pyrite can't have kids someday."

Azurite took her time about answering. "I've thought about one day having children. The way I look at it is like this. Right now we are the last of the Youma. It's a terrible to be the last of your species. But it's a worse thing to pass that on to someone else. I will not have children just so I can doom them to be freaks in a world they'll never quite fit in."

She fell silent and Calcite decided to change the subject. "You were saying something the other day about an acting part?"

"Yeah, it'll make a change from modelling. Of course if the project ever gets off the ground is another story. It won't be Shakespeare, we're talking a B movie with a lot of skin."

"So what's the name of this cinematic masterpiece."

"That's the funny part. Ahem, would you believe 'Sailor Arcturus : The Movie!'"

"You're kidding?"

"Nope. I swear they're planning a live film based on her."

"And you play ...?"

"The sadistic evil queen, they keep changing her name. Said I wasn't right for the title role. So I'll get to wear a PVC bikini, brandish a whip and torture a lot of people before dying in a very gruesome way."

"Guess there's a certain logic to this. Right now Sailor Arcturus merchandise is the hottest seller of the senshi junk. Except you appeal to a different demographic than them. They have the young to teenage girl market you get males 16 and up."

Azurite shrugged. "Well I am the only one old enough to be legally fantasised about."

"Nothing to do with your wardrobe?"

"Well it certainly doesn't hurt."

"Heh. Well to celebrate your potential stardom how about we find some brunch?"

"Sounds good."

"Think we ought to ask Pyr to join us?"

"Cal he's been running tests on those tissue samples since yesterday. I doubt he even noticed we left."

"Just the two of us then ..." That's when they heard the explosions and the screaming. Without a word both Renegades charged toward the noise. Turning the clock back a few minutes we switch the scene to Pyrite.

At their house Pyrite continued testing the tissue samples he'd shipped to Hawaii and back. Or rather the dust that had been tissue donated by all four Renegades. The recorder in the package indicated cellular decay beginning as soon as it left the synchronistic zone. The zone, which centered on Tokyo manipulated probability to make all the anomolous events in the world happen in this area. It also allowed anomalies to exist. Living beings that were just a little too alien to survive on Earth unprotected. Anomalies such as Pyrite and the other Renegades. It was clear his latest efforts to let them exist outside were a dismal failure. Another dead end. Damn. As far as Pyrite was concerned the sooner he found the answer the better. From the weird energy fields he'd sensed lately something major was going on. All he knew was that it involved the senshi and that meant trouble. Ok maybe they'd had no choice but he was never going to be able to relax while trapped in a city with the people who'd practically exterminated his entire species. Hell if it hadn't been for Calcite's foresight in organizing an escape the youma would have suffered total geonocide.

Thinking of his cousin made him remember that he was off training with Azurite. He felt a pang. This time he could count on Titanite to act as an involuntary chaperon. This time.

The last youma scientist sighed. He knew how Azurite felt about Cal, he'd known for years. It was his nature to observe and deduce. While she'd become his lover he sometimes feared her heart belonged to Calcite. Not that Cal knew it.

He didn't doubt she loved him to an extent. But he wondered if she loved him the way he loved her. For years he'd tried to tell himself she was just infatuated with Cal. Sooner or later she'd give up on him and they'd truly be a couple. She hadn't. While Cal was fixated on Margrave Azure remained fixated on him. Then they'd fled the Kingdom and Cal became single. Still she didn't drop him and Pyrite had silently rejoiced. Yet he soon realized she was still watching Cal. He saw her jealousy when Cal became involved with that teacher. It seemed she still hadn't chosen. There were times he wanted to scream at her to make her choice.

He'd kept telling himself he should confront her about this but he always froze up. She might well chose Calcite over him. Calcite was certainly the better looking of the two of them though she wasn't shallow enough to chose on that basis. But Pyrite couldn't deny that Cal had more courage, charisma and drive than him. It was no accident that he was leader of the group. Like Azurite he was a warrior and self reliant. In some ways there was a bond between them he'd never be part of. While he'd fit in a lot better than Ti he knew he'd never have survived his youth in the Dark Kingdom without Calcite's help. Sometimes he felt so useless.

That was when the sensor alarm went off. Pyrite turned to it in amazement. During his first trip to Earth Calcite had seeded a park with sensor crystals. They'd never been removed and had been useful during Zoisite's apparent resurrection. He'd set them to track major anomolies only and left them in place. They hadn't been activated since.

Now they were indicating a massive space/time distortion. A dimensional gate similar to the one the Renegades had used to flee the Dark Kingdom. The gate surged then faded. It hadn't collapsed, it was closed but it still existed. Why it had opened in the first place and if it would reopen was a mystery. As he moved to study the readings Pyrite wondered if anything had come through.

Across town Calcite and Azurite were moving through the fleeing crowd.

"You know Cal we're heading straight for whatever it is they're running away from."

"I was wondering about that myself ... we must be planning to reconnoitre whatever it is. For data in case it's a potential threat."

"Absolutely! My feelings exactly. It's not as if we're planning to do anything heroic."

"Definitely not. We're survivors not heroes. Heroes tend to die young."

Having reassured each other that they had good reasons for doing this they ducked into an alley. Whatever was going on could require a paranormal response. So it was time to use the good guy identities they'd created. They triggered the morphing bracelets and adjusted their glamours. Exit Calvin Hobbes and Azure DeWitt, enter Gray and Sailor Arcturus.

Turning a corner they saw the source of the trouble. There were six of them, showing a uniformity uncommon among the monsters that plagued this city. THe six humanoids stood 2 metres tall and were a dull blue in color. All had a metallic sheen and bore a strong resemblance to the Terminator in it's fleshless state. The jaws on several were distended exposing a weapon with which they spat energy bursts randomly along the street. Holes were blasted through walls, mailboxes and cars. There was smoke everywhere. Several people were sprawled on the street, some whimpered or screamed, a few lay still. A little boy tugged at his mother's limp wrist. She lay face down and unmoving on the asphalt. One of the creatures seemed to notice him. It stalked towards him flexing clawed hands in anticipation.

The forceblast knocked it away from the child and into a lamppost. It began to reorientate itself and track its attacker. A knife thrown with superhuman strength punched impossibly through the triple armoured skull. Energy surged through the blade and melted its brain.

Azurite was already moving as Calcite took out the first whatever. Her air vortex struck one of the creatures in the chest and pinned it against a wall. The force of a hurricane focused on an area a few centimetres in diameter. The chestplate buckled and imploded. Pressure forced fluid to erupt from the creature's joints. She jumped clear before a second could bring its weapon to bear and charged. Adjusting her forceshield to withstand kinetic shock rather than energy bursts she punched the creature in the belly. Her arm ripped through the stomach plates and into the interior. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. It seemed to hold true for these things as well. The interior felt disturbingly organic. She'd thought these things were some sort of machines. It toppled over dragging her with it. Shit! Her arm was caught on something inside. She began trying to rip herself loose as a third creature advanced. The weapon in its mouth glowed blindingly. Azurite warped her shield to repel energy bursts and prayed to whoever might be listening that it could withstand the blast at this range.

Something slashed through the blue neck and the head came loose. The metallic skull rang on the roadway as the body began toppling. Calcite stood behind it holding the sword he'd just forged. Azurite ripped free of the corpse and looked for another foe. She saw what was left of the other two, one cut in half, one in small pieces. She looked for more enemies, she needed something to fight. Nothing like a few seconds of terror to get the adrenaline flowing.

No one left to fight. Victory. Caught in the surge she turned to look at Calcite. To find him looking at her. They held eyecontact for a moment then Calcite broke it. Idiot, he chided himself, she's got something special with Pyrite and you want to spoil it! To break the tension he said, "No sign of these guys disintegrating."

Her mind whirling with conflicting emotions Azurite nodded. "No sign of the Senshi either. Aren't they supposed to deal with this sort of thing?"

"It's a big city. Maybe they've got other worries."

"Maybe." They glanced around at the fallen. No one seemed to be bleeding to death which pretty well exhausted their knowledge of dealing with human injuries. Best thing to do would be leave it to the professionals. Already in the distance they could hear sirens.

Azurite leaned down and picked up the severed head. Looking it in the eye she intoned, "Blasting our new home is the biggest mistake of your life as well as the last. By the power of the red star Sailor Arcturus will obliterate you!"

Calcite frowned. "I think you're supposed to do that before the fight starts."

"This way is a lot more effective. It saves having to adlib a speech while someone is shooting at you."

"You also dropped the 'I will punish you' line."

"Dressed like this it can be counterproductive. When I broke up that mugging about a week ago the victim begged me to punish him as well."

Calcite refrained from comment. When Azurite designed the Sailor Arcturus costume she'd got a bit overboard with the studs and leather. Many people wondered how she could walk in heels like those let alone run.

Anyway it was time to get out of here before the authorities arrived to ask questions. "Let's get out of here. Bring the head. Maybe Pyrite can tell us just what we just wiped out. I can't decide if they were machines or creatures." They teleported home leaving a large mess for the authorities to deal with.

While the police were getting used to calls to weird attacks they normally weren't this messy. Normally they'd just find crowds of weak people several of whom claimed to have seen both monsters and the Sailor Senshi. Both the monsters and the senshi would always been gone without a trace. While they could describe the monsters no one seemed able to accurately describe the senshi. This time there was a street full of injuried people, major property damage and the scattered remains of six ... things. Ambulances were brought in to ferry the injured to hospital and the street was closed. The police called in trucks to haul the creatures remains to an impound warehouse for storage. That would do as a temporary solution while they tried to figure out just what the hell was going on.

Meanwhile Pyrite sensed both his cousin and lover teleport in. Something had happened, normally they used more mundane and inconspicuous methods of transportation. He hurried to meet them.

"Azure, Cal we've got a problem ... what the hell is that?"

"We were hoping you could tell us." She handed him the head.

"So ... something did come through the gate." He turned it over in his hands probing in physically and psychically.

"Gate?" Cal and Azure glanced at each other. "There were six of these things. Do you know what our friend here, the terminator lookalike, is?" Calcite shifted his clothing back to the sweatsuit.

"Not a clue cousin. All I know is a dimensional gate suddenly appeared briefly on the site of our gate from the kingdom. It's inactive now but it's still there." Pyrite paused then race downstairs to his lab. Cal and Azure shrugged and followed. Pyrite had the head resting on a slab of crystal, three gemstones hovered around it. Both settled down to wait, when Pyrite got like this you couldn't distract him. After a minute he plucked the stones out of the air and turned to them. "That confirms what I thought. This thing has been in contact with a youma. And before you say anything snide I'm not talking about either of you."

"Another youma. So this thing's a youma creation."

Pyrite shook his head. "No, this thing looks technological rather than magical or magickal. It has however picked up aura traces from close contact with a youma."

"No way to determine anything more?"

"No, these are faint traces. Neither of you noticed them right?" Both shook their heads. "If not for my sensitivity to energy fields I wouldn't have either. There is one thing though ..."

"What?"

"For traces to linger this long on a nonmagickal artifact the source must be extremely powerful."

"Terrific." Calcite sighed. "We'd better get a look at this gate. Think you can open it long enough to send a probe through?"

"Sure. I am this group's resident genius."

"A real genius wouldn't have worked through the candlelight dinner I set last tuesday."

Pyrite suddenly looked a little guilty and Calcite added, "You know she forced me to let Ti drag me to that anime film festival just to get you two the night alone."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to forget ... it was just that I found this exciting lead on field enhancement ..."

"Hmph. Let me you tell you something mister. Do that again and you are going to suffer."

"Is that a promise?"

Calcite's voice broke in. "Let's investigate the gate first people. Oh and Azure that sort of threat would sound more effective without the costume." Azurite swore and she realized she was still dressed as Sailor Arcturus. She morphed it back to the tracksuit.

"I didn't mean it that way."

"If you say so."

"Save it for later you two. Check your glamour and let's go!" Pyrite nodded and shifted his eyecolor from yellow to blue. The black pigmentation vanished from his fingernails. That would do it. Unlike the others there was nothing unusual about his haircolor. Black was common enough though green and blue remained rare. Being rare it was noticeable, and the renegades preferred not to be noticed.

The park was looking a little the worse for wear with large footprints through the grass and flowerbeds. Curious onlookers traced the prints back to the place they suddenly appeared but wandered away when they realized there was nothing to see. The trio approached the spot with no sign of urgency. Just three friends following the trail.

Azurite murmurred, "They must have been under orders to get somewhere crowded before starting to cause trouble." Calcite nodded. Oblivious to this Pyrite unobtrusively glanced at what appeared to be a walkman. Fiddling with it he muttered "I think I've got it. Hopefully it'll be invisible to the naked eye. Here goes." Calcite and Azurite saw nothing but felt something. Pyrite nodded and fished something out of his coat pocket. It looked like a small scale model of the Enterprise. At Calcite's look he muttered, "Defensive camoflague. It looks like a simple Star Trek toy."

"I believe you. Ready to launch?"

"Yes."

"Make it so."

Trying to decide if his cousin was trying to be funny Pyrite tossed the probe into the invisible gateway. No one but them saw it disappear. Pyrite did something with his disguised equipment and the sense of presence vanished. "Ok don't want anyone stumbling through the gate so it's back on standbye. It'll be about an hour before the probe is ready to return so how about we get some breakfast?"

"Why not, there's a little cafe near here I've been meaning to try."

Over breakfast Pyrite told the others his theory. "The location of that gate was no coincidence. It had to appear on the site of our original gate."

"Why? Our gate's long gone. The place it connected to just doesn't exist anymore."

"Normally that would be true. I think the problem is our gate hadn't totally collapsed when the Crystal's erasure wave hit it."

"Just what are you saying?"

"I think instead of the gate just fading out the crystal slammed it shut. This affected the local continuum creating a weak spot."

"Weak spot?"

"A fracture point in reality. A minor breach in the integrity of space and time."

Calcite rolled this concept over. "A fracture point. What does that mean in layman's terms?"

"Basically that someone trying to access this world from another continuum would find that to be the easiest entry point."

"I was afraid of that." He sighed. "Wherever the Senshi have got to when they hear about this mess and trace it back it'll lead them to the fracture point. If they somehow trace it to us they might decide we're partially responsible."

Azurite frowned. "It's not like we intended to do that. Hell it was Sailor Moon who created the erasure wave!"

"Intention doesn't matter as much as action. Besides if there are youma on the other side of that thing causing trouble we'll get caught up in it anyway. Best thing to do is see if we can deal with it ourselves then collapse the gate."

Azurite nodded then turned to Pyrite. "Can't you just collapse the gate right now."

"Yes but the fracture would remain. There'd be nothing stopping whoever built this gate from recreating it."

"Great."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault. Guess we'll have to have a word with the builder."

Calcite glanced at his watch. "Finish your coffee then let's stroll back to the park to pick up your probe." He caught Azurite's eye and she filled in the unspoken part. "... and let's hope it's coming back unaccompanied."

Ten minutes later Pyrite was again fiddling with the disguised warp key. Behind him Azurite and Calcite tried not to show signs of battlereadyness. Azurite was close enough to Pyrite to wrap her shield around him if any of those blue things stepped through. The air seemed to faintly waver around Calcite's fingers as psychoplasm was generated and held waiting. Pyrite gave a grunt of satisfaction and they felt the gate open.

A tiny spaceship blinked into existence and was snatched out of the air by Pyrite. He did something to the tool in his hand and the gate was gone.

"Closed?"

"More like on standby. Well let's see what my little friend found out."

They found a bench and Pyrite cradled the probe in both hands. After a few minutes he blinked and slid it back into his coat pocket. "Well there were no youma near the gate. It didn't pick up any with in the area it scanned."

"So no-one within a kilo of the gate."

"Right. Various human signatures scattered around, air has a few more pollutants but otherwise the environment seems interchangeable with here. Literally. There's another synchronistic zone over there."

"Makes sense. How else could youma survive outside the Kingdom."

"Unless it was equivalent to the Kingdom the other side. But it isn't. Seems identical to Earth. Climate seems to match more or less to Autumn in Tokyo. No large scale magick flares detected. No evidence of magick use within the scanned area. That's about all we're going to get out of a probe."

"So if we want any more information someone will have to go and take a look?"

"Afraid so."

Calcite nodded. "How soon can you get that gate open again?"

"Anytime."

"Will it last another six hours?"

"I'd say it's got twelve at a minimum before collapse."

Azurite stared at Calcite, "Wait a minute ..."

"I'm the best choice to go. Previous experience and the most power."

"You might need backup, I can ..."

"I appreciate the offer but this is a recon mission not a raid. I won't be looking for trouble. Just a quiet investigation. Like I did on Earth on my first trip. You're in charge in my absence."

Which translated to "do whatever you think best if I don't return."

She sighed. "Just remember not to do anything heroic on the other side."

"Absolutely. Low profile all the way."

Calcite turned back to Pyrite. "Might as well get on with it."

"To boldly go where no youma has gone before."

"To go boldly where at least one youma has gone before."

Soon they were back at the gate. Pyrite had opened it but Cal wouldn't step through until there were no witnesses. "Give me six hour then reopen it. In the meantime see what you can find out from Yorick back at the house."

"Will do."

"Cal ..." Azurite sounded hesitant. Pyrite felt a pang.

"Yes?"

"... uh ... take care of yourself ok. I don't want to have to explain to Ti why you never came back."

"Trust me. I haven't let you down yet."

Azure seemed on the brink of saying something else but just nodded. For a moment there was no one in sight. Calcite waved and stepped forward. From his perspective suddenly he was alone in the dark.

MegaTokyo - October 2033 AD

It was already evening on this side of the gate. The area seemed to be surrounded by crumbling ruins. The buildings didn't look that old. They'd been damaged and destroyed by something. It didn't appear to be war induced. In the distance Calcite could see tower blocks jutting into the night. Ablaze with light, many of them bigger than the ones he'd seen in Tokyo. Looming over them all was one massive building. Almost like a pyramid, a giant high tech pyramid. Calcite could sense humans nearby. He wasn't looking for contact just yet. Fixing this place in his mind he slid silently through the darkness.

The megalopolis had several areas like the one Calcite had arrived in. When GENOM began rebuilding Tokyo they preferred to build up rather than out. Several areas were left as they were to rot into slums. They became havens for gangs, criminals and those unfortunates who couldn't afford to live in the new city. It was almost as though GENOM was cultivating areas crime would flourish. But that was ridiculous. Why would the largest multinational in the world want a breeding ground for thugs and people who wouldn't be missed on the doorstep of their corporate headquarters?

In another slum, known to the locals as the pit, a woman was walking. One glance would show you she didn't belong. Tailored black blouse and skirt, perfect complexion, styled blond hair. She looked like a mid level executive who'd taken a shortcut, had her car & phone break down and decided to walk out. It happened occasionally, there were people who made it happen. Get the license of any car that drove through semi regular, hack the traffic database to get an address and rig the car's electrics to fry at a remote signal. Sometimes gangs were paid to do it as a means of eliminating business rivals. Sometimes they just did it for fun.

Heels clicking loudly in the stillness she walked on. A few individual predators watched but stayed back. Probably a gang target, spoiling their fun could be terminal. One of them, drunk enough to ignore the danger, stagggered towards her. She sniffed the air and shook her head. Her lips peeled back in a wide grin and flashed her teeth at the would be mugger. He stopped dead and backed away, crossing himself for the first time since childhood. She stopped smiling and resumed her apprehensive look, darting nervous glances at every patch of shadow.

A few minutes later she was approaching the unofficial no man's land between the pit and MegaTokyo proper. No luck tonight. Oh well. Might as well head for a bar and pick tonight's bedmate. Then she stopped as the figures edged out of the shadows. Five of them. Looked like they liked to stop their prey just in sight of sanctuary. Their leader stepped forward. Big man, scarred and proud of each one. He smelled of violence and ... metal? That scent tickled a memory. Yes,it was him.

"Leaving so soon honey?" His friends chuckled and made various comments on her anatomy. "Not safe for a woman to be out here alone. We'll give you a escort out of here."

"Yeah ride you'll never forget."

"Not for the rest of your life."

She pulled her empty hands from her pocket. "Keep your distance. My hands are lethal weapons."

One of the followers giggle, "Oooh I'm scared guys. She's a karate expert."

The big guy smiled and brought his left hand into view. After the amputation he'd got the toughest cybernetic he could. The hand was plain steel, no attempt made to make it look natural. It had been further modified by a black market cybertechnician and now sported claws and spines on the back. "What a coincidence. So is mine."

They moved to surround her. She kept watching the leader. Her earlier look of fear was gone. Now she watched him defiantly. "That explains those wounds on Janet. I couldn't understand what cut her like that."

"Janet?"

"Janet Ombari. The woman you raped and left to die four weeks ago."

"Kind of short? Red hair?"

"Black, taller than me, sure people were basically good."

"Oh her. I get them mixed up sometimes." Something was wrong. No sign of anyone following her, she wasn't packing a gun. Why wasn't she scared? "We taught her you can't talk your way out of everything. Cooperate and we won't hurt you too much." From the way the others started laughing that promise wasn't worth a whole lot. "Friend of yours?"

"I don't have friends. But she was one of ours and no one hurts our people except us." Before he could question that she said, "You're the last."

"Last what?"

"Last of the ones who hurt Janet." She smiled, "You've lost a lot of friends lately, haven't you?" He snarled and pulled the claw back to slap her and break her cheekbone. Kasugi and Bradley moved in to hold her in place. Then she was gone and something else stood there.

He didn't get much of a look at it except for a white blur. A white blur surrounded by red. His hand was still arcing forward as his followers began falling. Then his cyberhand was falling from his wrist and blood was pouring from his throat. He tried to staunch the flow with his remaining hand but felt it running through his fingers. The thing his would-be victim had become stopped moving and he got his first good look at the white shape. Green eyes with oval pupils bored into his. A voice that would have been seductive under other circumstances whispered, "I was born a monster. What was your excuse?" Then the world seemed to fade and he dropped.

She watched him fall and finish bleeding to death. Around her the other four lay scattered. None would be getting up. She concentrated and her image changed to a psychoteen biker girl. She should look dangerous enough to move on unmolested. After she got some distance she'd resume her normal glamour. Which bore little resemblence to either this or her potential victim face. Best to get moving. She was close enough to the edge of the slum that someone might just call the police when they saw the bodies. The hunt was done. One last little touch. She bent down and tucked the card between the metal hands second and third fingers. Then loped away.

It was done which should please Lord Jadeite. While he hadn't forbidden her this he hadn't encouraged her. Though after the success of last night's test he was already in a good mood. Now his big plan (whatever it was) would begin. Maybe he'd even tell her what was going on. After all who else was available to marvel at his genius?

In the hidden repair bay under Raven's garage Mackie Stingray turned as the door opened. His sister walked in trying not to show a limp. "Well?"

He shrugged. "The prognosis hasn't changed since last night. Nene's took the least damage so it should be fully functional again in five to six days. We're talking weeks before the others are operational again. Frankly given the structural damage I still think it would be best to junk them and start from scratch."

"That would take months. I don't think we have months."

"It's not like you're out of commission. We have the old suits ..."

"Which are weaker and we nearly lost with the new suits. I need them functional again and ready for upgrade immediately." Sylia Stingray looked over her creations, the four Knight Saber hardsuits. The new improved designs which had trashed Dr. Miriam's Superboomers during the attempted ADP HQ takeover. The best combat exosuits on the planet. They all looked like they'd been run through a carcrusher. Sylia winced as another pain echoed up her leg. She'd been fortunate not to suffer broken bones. If she'd been really fortunate she wouldn't have been beaten black and blue. Still if you could walk away while your opponent fell that was a victory. Wasn't it?

She realized Mackie was watching her. The deadly serious expression looked foreign in place of his normal wiseguy look. "Sis ... do the others know just how close you all came to dying?"

She sighed. "Linna does. Priss can't conceive of herself losing a fight, as for Nene ... she's sure everything will always work out in the end so she never worries about it."

"Maybe we should just let this go ..."

"WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER!" The anger was a stark contrast to Sylia's normal emotionless mask. How had things gone this wrong? One Boomer ... one lousy Boomer had nearly finished all four of them. How had GENOM come up with a monster like that so quickly?

Mackie asked, somewhat hesitantly, "Uhh ... so have you found anything?"

Sylia gave up trying to hide her frustration. "Nothing. It's a normal C-55 Boomer. No special armour, no indication of programming for new weapons, nothing to indicate how it morphed into that other form ... it's totally impossible but it happened!"

"Easy Sis. You beat it in the end." He put a hand on her shoulder feeling the tension. She couldn't let it go. "What if there's two of them next time?", he thought. But he didn't say it, he knew his sister. She'd go to fight them anyway.

About 40 minutes later ADPolice detectives Leon MacNichol and Daley Wong were heading to the edge of sector 4. Slum zone, police went in heavily armed and as infrequently as possible. Leon was driving and Daley was on the videolink. "So why are we heading for some N police gang homicide?"

"Seems it was a literal gang homicide. Five skullcrushers killed with an edged weapon. They think it might be our friend the Werewolf Vigilante.

"Sheesh, what a name. First it was vampires, now it's werewolves. What a city." The vampire murders hadn't exactly been solved but they had stopped. An investigation into the illegal mecha believed involved in the crimes (which had been found linked to a dead sexaroid) had faded out the way all investigations that impacted GENOM did. "Anyway no one's proved the Wolf is ADP responsibility. Why bother?"

"Well we could sign off and head for a motel."

"Not tonight Daley, I have a headache."

They arrived at the scene and were waved through the sparse crowd. Several of whom seemed to be there to check the guys in question were really dead (and to piss on the corpses if they could).

The detective in charge headed for them.

"Hi Carol."

"Evening Leon. Hello Daley, you look handsome as ever."

"Carol you know you're not my type so why keep bother?"

"Same reason you keep after Leon. Just in case he changes his mind."

"So what have we got?"

She waved them over to a bodybag. "Same as the others. Single wound, fatal instantly or damn close. This one got cut straight through the ribcage and into the heart." THe ADP men looked at the four parallel slashes on the chest.

"ID the weapon yet?"

"No but check this out. We haven't bagged this one yet." She nodded to the man standing by the sheet covered body. "Take a look!"

Leon shrugged. "Slashed throat. What's the big deal."

Daley frowned. "Check out the left arm." Leon looked. At the elbow it stopped being flesh. The cybernetic ended suddenly, neatly severed just below the wrist.

Carol nodded. "We've bagged the hand. It was holding this card." She produced an evidence bag. Leon read the small card inside.

"Let's see, 'I'm not a vigilante I just like killing things.' What the hell?"

"Weird isn't it? Everyone who's turned up dead from whoever or whatever this is is a career criminal. Like our friend here. Got arrested for rape at 16. Did three years and we filed his DNA signature. We've got seven others he did over the past two years, the last one just four weeks ago. That's just the ones where we found the victims. Great thing DNA tracking. You know who did it but if you can't find them, so what?"

"No shortage of places scum can hide in this town."

"Right. Anyway all the wolf's victims are guys like this. It's no secret we aren't exactly busting our backs trying to track him. Hell, he's got fans at HQ. Then he leaves a note claiming he's just a serial killer. Like he doesn't want anyone cheering him. Crazy."

"Any trace of anything useful?"

"Not a thing. He killed them and got lost. Think it's a boomer?"

"Doubt it. It's far too efficent. Besides whoever heard of a furry boomer?" The killer had been dubbed the Werewolf Vigilante by the trash media. It had originated when a blood soaked girl showed up at an N Police substation claiming she'd been saved from an assault by a white furred thing. The first she'd known of it was when the man holding her down fell over spraying blood. His friend was already down, his head barely attached to his body. Their killer had looked down at her and snarled, "Go!" She'd gone. The bodies were right where she'd said. It was obvious she couldn't have inflicted damage like that. The media picked up on it. A werewolf that killed muggers. It was tied into other unexplained deaths of criminals and MegaTokyo had a new legend. The Werewolf Vigilante. Leon thought it was a pretty stupid name but he'd learned to say it without wincing.

Daley was studying stumpy again. "Straight throught the metal. Maybe the killer has their own bladed cyberhand."

"Cyborg? Could be. Doesn't explain the fur part."

"A costume. Or a fur coat maybe. The only witness was fairly traumatised."

"It's a theory. Well nothing for us to do here. Let's go Daley. Send us a copy of the forensics Carol."

"Sure. Daley can drop by my apartment for it."

"Just fax it to us."

"Can't win 'em all."

"I'll happily drop by for the report."

"Dream on Leon."

The ADP officers headed for their car. Elsewhere in the city security guards at the Central Library were agreeing with Calcite that he was free to use the facilities. They were also showing him how to blank his image from the security system and promising to forget they'd ever met him in a few hours.

Tokyo - The Present

The closed street had become a major tourist attraction. People would marvel at the damage, point to the chalked outlines and trade stories about what had happened. A trio of teenage girls were leaning on one of the hastily placed rails and surveying the scene.

"I heard someone saying the Sailor Senshi were here."

"They're just a myth Meiko!"

"That's what you think Kaori. My brother saw them once."

"I wouldn't trust your brother if he said the sun would rise tomorrow."

Meiko turned to the third member of the threesome. "You've seen the Senshi haven't you Ti-chan?"

Titania Hobbes considered her answer. "Well they were around my old school a couple of times. At least there were people there who swore they'd seen them." She could feel aura traces, both her brother and Azurite had been throwing power around here. Who had they fought? There seemed to be a dozen stories circulating. "I heard someone say it was one of the new Senshi."

Meiko nodded. "I've heard of them. Arcturus and ... the other one."

Titanite restrained an angry response. "Polaris. I think that's the name."

"Could be. My brother's a big fan of Arcturus. He's got a couple of those posters of her."

Kaori seemed to remember something. "Oh right she's the one who looks like a slut. No wonder Yoshi's a fan."

"That's her. Wonder why she dresses like that?"

"Funny sense of humour and no shame about her body."

"What did you say Ti-chan?"

"Nothing important. Guess there's nothing else to see here. Let's get some lunch. My treat." While she really wanted to know what was going on she'd learned a little self control. If it was urgent they'd have called her by now. Of course she did sort of resent Sailor Polaris getting left out of whatever had just happened. She'd find out when she got home. As soon as she could gracefully exit she would.

Back in Pyrite's lab Azurite was watching him dissect the head. It looked disturbingly organic. He shook his head. "Looks like Cal was closer than he thought with that terminator crack."

"How so?"

"Well the Terminator was flesh on the outside, machine on the inside. This seems to be the reverse."

Azurite looked at the brain pan with horror. "You mean that's a human brain?!"

"Sorry didn't mean to imply that. It's organic but I think it's a close copy of a human brain. With some alterations here and there and interfaces to the computer systems."

"Interfaces? How's that possible?"

"No idea. Human technology isn't my strong point. I've learned some stuff but I've got a long way to go. However I'm pretty sure that this is way beyond what they can do right now. This should be just SF."

"Then how ...?"

"I guess the rules are different on the other side."

"So now what?"

"Wait and see what Cal found out I guess."

A few hours later they were back in the park standing by the gate. "3, 2, 1 ... Energize" Azurite sighed. Calcite appeared and squinted momentarily at the shift from night to afternoon. "Welcome back. Where have you been."

Calcite handed him a copy of the MegaTokyo Times. "Sort of the future."

Pyrite saw the date and whistled. "2033. Forty year chronological displacement. Actual time travel!" Then noticed Calcite shaking his head. "What?"

"It's the future but not out future. Here, I made a hardcopy of this one."

Azurite took it. It seemed to be the local paper for several weeks earlier. "I don't get it."

"Check the date."

"I saw it but what ... wait a minute that was the day Magnesite showed up! The headline should be something like, '30 stricken in mystery incident at school.'" The headline concerned political corruption. "What is this?"

"Artifact of another world. Don't ask me why it's a different year over there. But their past was different. I was looking back for clues about what might have happened ... be going to happen ... to us. There's no trace of any of the trouble Magnesite caused. Or any of the events any of the generals set up.. Nothing about the Senshi either. It seems neither they or the Dark Kingdom existed in that world."

"But there's at least one Youma over there. One who sent weapons through to this world. Which implies knowledge of this Earth."

"That is the mystery. Could be someone from our Dark Kingdom who somehow got thrown into that dimension."

"Someone with the power to open an interdimensional gateway. Cal, there weren't many who could do that and all the prime candidates were already dead before the last day."

"I didn't detect anyone but if they were shielded I wouldn't unless they were using a lot of power or nearby. Let's go home. I'll give you a rough outline of what it's like over there." They nodded and headed out of the park. "Here's the really short version. In the year 2025 Tokyo was hit by a major earthquake. If that'll happen here I don't know but we'd better be able to leave town by then. Anyway thousands died and the city was wrecked. A multinational by the name of GENOM seems to have taken control of the rebuilding. The city is now called MegaTokyo and this company basically owns it. What's significant for us is that one of this company's main products are biomechanical androids."

"Like our friends from this morning?"

"Right. They're called Boomers for some reason. Maybe it's a corruption of an acronym and it was originally B.U.M.A."

"Big Ugly Mother of an Android?"

"Maybe. These things come mainly in construction and military design."

"So our mystery youma got hold of a few military models and sent them here to look for the Senshi. Maybe as a first strike, maybe just as an initial recon?"

"That's my current theory. The thing is there's no shortage of Boomers on the other side."

"So next time instead of six it's six hundred?"

"Possibly."

"I think we'd better do something about that." Pyrite looked intrigued by the concept of visiting a future Earth. One step close to the next generation.

Azurite looked grimmer. "I think you're right. Cal we're coming along next time!"

"Saves me asking you."

When they entered the house they found Titanite waiting. "So who's going to tell me what's going on?"

Later Titanite was studying the paper intensely. There was something familiar about MegaTokyo. Where had she heard it before. "So I get to stay here?"

"Lots of kids your age would welcome getting the place themselves for a day or two. Hold a party if you really like."

She considered protesting but caught the look in her brother's eye and subsided. She'd learned when he was unwilling to compromise and this was definitely one of those times. "So when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. There are some arrangements I'd like to make first." Some of them to take care of Ti in case they didn't come back. He'd leave her sealed instructions that would open after a few days absence without any word. "Oh and try not to overdo the Sailor Polaris appearances in our absence."

"Ok. Mind if I hang on to this paper?"

"Sure. Just don't let any of your friends see it."

Ti nodded and headed for her room. Behind her the three adults began discussing plans and going over the information Calcite had gathered. Once she was alone she continued combing the paper. What she was looking for she wasn't sure.

It was a small article buried in the gossip section that did it. It reported rumours that the mercanaries/vigilantes known as the Knight Sabers had finally bitten off more than they could chew and been killed by a new model boomer. Knight Sabers! She'd heard that name before. A quick scrabble through her collection didn't produce any results. Oh well she knew who to ask. There was a boy in her class with every anime series ever produced and absolutely no life. She was a fan but she wasn't totally obsessive so she'd tended to avoid him. But now ... she'd have a word with him tomorrow. Hopefully he wouldn't choke up at a girl actually talking to him.

End of part 1

Next : The Renegades arrive in MegaTokyo to find it's a very different place from the city they know. Also Tinsel City's resident Youma show up. Part 2 : A Night On The Town.

*****-

Dark Kingdom Renegades/Bubblegum Crisis : Bad Moon Rising

By Mark Latus

Part 2 : A Night On The Town

MegaTokyo - October 2033

The concealed Boomers switched out of standby mode when the three figures appeared. These biomechanicals were neither sentient nor especially enhanced, they were simply there because the gate's creator had worried about a certain person arriving. As a result the Boomers had a very specific attack profile programmed. Two of the three were male, therefore not viable targets. While the third was female she did not seem to match the profile. The lead Boomer remained hidden but commenced a more detailed scan. Conclusion, subject was nonhuman. Not a potential target. The Boomers reverted to standbye mode.

Calcite and Azurite looked for movement as Pyrite scanned the area. As the Boomers stayed still and lacked auras they remained undetected. The DKR members were thinking in terms of potential ambushers being either human or youma. Not surprising as they'd only met their first Boomers yesterday. Pyrite closed the gateway again. The space/time corridor back to their adopted homeworld remained but it was currently inaccessible from either side. There were no signs of alarms triggered by the opening. Whoever had created the gate evidently assumed no one else could unseal it. He planted a few alarms of his own around the gate. Best to have a few sensors on this side of the gate as well. Time to go have a look around the city and see how the future turned out.

Marking the spot mentally (in case teleporting here became necessary) the three moved off singlefile. Calcite took the point with Azurite bringing up the rear. Leaving keeping watch to the other two Pyrite returned to his scans. So far there was no evidence of youma energies. However if the builder was shielding you wouldn't detect him her or it unless they were using large amounts of power.

As they moved through the slum they drew attention. All three were dressed far too well for this part of town. A few people considered asking them to contribute something to the community but stopped short. While the one in the middle seemed oblivious to his surroundings the other two seemed aware of everyone watching. Both moved with the unhurried predatory grace of those who know there's no need to strut because they can handle everything thrown at them. Still when your gang is large and well armed enough you might ignore these warning signs.

Pyrite suddenly walked in Calcite's back. His cousin had stopped very abruptly. Behind him Azurite had also paused. Both studied the darkness around them. Pyrite's own Dark Kingdom honed senses belatedly kicked in. He'd been too busy studying his scanner to pay attention to their surroundings. Getting distracted like that was one of his major failings and the main reason he'd never made a good warrior. Of course just surviving in the Kingdom had been a challenge. Pacifists wouldn't last long. He activated his forceshield and traced the energy patterns in the darkness. "12 humans, close by and excited." The others nodded silently, continuing to shift their gaze from one watcher to the next. Calcite considered the best way to handle this from what he'd learned on his last trip. There should be little threat. While energy weapons existed by this time they were bulky devices and not in common usage. Projectile based guns remained the weapon of choice and their shields should handle the kinetic impacts. On a purely physical level the humans couldn't match them. Hell even Pyrite, their weakest member, was three times stronger than a champion weightlifter. The problem wasn't getting past this gang, the problem was getting past without hurting anyone too much. Mangling these jackals could bring attention. Maybe the glowing eyes and sepulchre voice routine would work? Maybe not. This was the future, that sort of thing could be a trick anyone could do.

Then the thugs decided to take matters into their own hands. Twelve against three unarmed people is pretty good odds. The DKR found themselves surrounded by large muscular thugs, all sporting multicolored mohawks and spiked noserings. The leader (purple mohawk, three rings, multiple steroid injection arm scars) seemed to think drooling was intimidating. "Leave your money and the girl and you walk away alive!" Calcite winced slightly, Azurite was going to be a little hard to control after that.

"Jesus, what a cliche!" Azurite stalked up to the hulking figure. "My turn. Get the hell out of our way or I kick your balls into orbit."

"Uh let's try and avoid violence."

The leader leered at Pyrite, "Scared of fighting little man?"

Calcite chuckled slightly, "He wasn't talking to you. She's not kidding. This is your last chance to walk away without becoming a eunuch."

The gorilla glanced around at his gang. Several were looking very apprehensive. Maybe these three had reason to think they could walk through this place unprotected. Maybe they were just bluffing. He caught Vincent's eye. Vinnie had a detector wand. "They packing?"

"They are not!"

"Nice try bitch." His hand descended on Azurite. "Take's a lot to hurt me, more than you ..." The crunch was audiable to everyone. He didn't scream, it hurt far too much to draw breath, just folded up and collapsed.

"Next?" For a moment the thugs were frozen. Then the knives and clubs came out and the eleven left swarmed at them. Most went for Azurite which was a big mistake. Calcite disabled his opponents with speed and minimum force. Pyrite swung wildly, breaking noses and whatever else got in the way. There were six down around Azurite clutching various parts of their anatomy. Four were down around Calcite, unconscious or semiconscious. Calcite was a little puzzled. He hadn't been using that much force so why did so many of them have broken limbs. The remaining two were scattered by Pyrite's feet. One was out of it, the other sat dabbing at the blood running from his nose. Pyrite turned to Azutite and that was when it happened.

Bloody nose reached inside his jacket and pulled out a gun. He started to aim it at Pyrite's back. It was unlikely the bullet could have penetrated his cousin's shield, even at that range. But you don't live long in the Dark Kingdom by making assumptions about invulnerability. Calcite's reaction was instinctive. The shock blast slammed into the gunman. It should have knocked him over and torn the gun from his hand. Instead he catapulted backwards into a wall. There was a cracking noise as he hit. Then he slid down leaving a stain along the bricks. Calcite looked at his hand in shock! What the hell had just happened?

The conscious thugs began dragging themselves away as fast as possible. One was hysterically muttering, "... pack of fucking boomers ... I said there something wrong but nobody listened ..." All that were left were the unconscious and the Renegades.

"That should have just stunned him." Calcite had knelt by the body but was keeping a watch on those fleeing. Just in case they tried for vengeance.

"Is he dead?" Even as he said it Pyrite knew it was a stupid question. The back of the head was caved in. Calcite didn't bother answering it.

"I lost control. How the hell could I do that for a threat this minor?" Azurite laid a hand on his shoulder. To be unable to depend on your powers was a terrible thing. Also a potentially fatal one. In a thoughtful tone Calcite continued, "First time I've killed a human."

Azurite surveyed the bloodied and broken corpse. "One thing you have to say for youma. We die a lot neater."

"Good point. This guy is not going to spontaneously combust." This was unknown territory. "Should we do something about the body?"

This wasn't something either of them had had to deal with before. All their other kills had been members of their own kind. Half an hour later all you needed was a dustpan and the problem was solved. "Can we destroy the remains?"

"I'm not sure. I can make it explode or burn up a lot of it but total destruction is a bit tricky." He considered. "Probably best to leave it. We don't exist in this city and if our description gets circulated we'll just change glamours. Now let's get out of here before they come back with friends and we have to hurt a few more." A thought struck him. "Pyr, your scanner was on during the fight?"

"Yes. I didn't bother switching it off."

"Good. Review and see what powerlevel I used. I have to compensate for this fast." The Renegades moved off towards the city core. No one saw them depart.

Elsewhere in the city a man calling himself Jason Deite looked up in puzzlement. Strange, for a moment there he'd thought he felt something familiar. Ridiculous. He was jumping at shadows. According to Margrave's story (which she'd verified under mind control) they'd been the only ones to escape the Kingdom. At least the only ones who'd arrived here. He shook off the feeling and returned to his calculations. Everything seemed perfect. While the test hadn't gone exactly as planned he now had access to all the Boomers he needed. A momentary irritation flit across his mind. It had been unfortunate that the Boomer failed to kill the Knight Sabers. There was something about females fighting to defend people that really irked him. Which reminded him, he wondered how Sailor Moon had liked his little present. The six combat boomers must have chewed up a good chunk of the city before they were destroyed. And they had been destroyed as none returned. At least it was back to having just one Senshi to worry about. Margrave had told how Mars, Mercury and the two he'd never met fell before the final battle. Which Beryl had lost decisively.

Sort of a pity, he'd have liked to pay her back for sealing him in that crystal. As he remembered it he shivered involuntarily. Trapped like a fly in amber but aware. He'd be having nightmare's about that for the rest of his life. Which would be a very long time indeed.

Still there was one positive thing about the otherwise horrific experience. He felt a sharpness he hadn't felt in centuries. Looking back he'd become incredibly complacent after remaining unchallenged for so long. Secure in his power he'd gone against the Senshi without considering the possibility they could be a threat. If he'd just taken the trouble to eliminate them before he started draining humans. He shook his head again. Just thinking back on his blunders made him wince.

Well now he had a whole new world to conquer. After arrival he'd taken Margrave and stayed inconspicuous as he studied it. Once he had confirmed the Senshi didn't exist here he'd begun making plans. This had lead him to GENOM. A little study of the company had convinced him he'd fit right in. A lot of study had convinced him the company's elite would have thrived in the Dark Kingdom. During this time he'd come up with the idea that perhaps he'd lost because part of him didn't want to hurt young girls. A holdover from his human days. Shortly afterwards over a two week period seven girls between 13 and 16 fell victim to a serial killer. No one saw them abducted or saw anyone dump the remains. The mutilation of the bodies shocked even the hardened detectives of MegaTokyo's N Police Homicide Unit.

Having determined he had no qualms about hurting the young and innocent Jadeite had returned to making plans. Curiously it was about this time that Margrave ceased her constant seduction attempts. But he was enjoying the novelty of sex with human females for the first time his transformation from human to youma centuries ago.

Then the plan had come to him. After tests to ensure it was workable he created identities for himself and the cat woman and moved in to take his place in GENOM's hierarchy. Nothing too major. He wasn't about to take over everything at once. He'd bided his time and waited. As he waited he gathered the energy he would need to make the plan workable. Killing time and as many people as possible.

The test two nights earlier had been the turning point. The first combat demonstration of his Hyperboomer. There had been quite a crowd there, including Chairman Quincy. Actually it hadn't been Quincy, it was a boomer double. Probably none of the humans had picked realized that. He wondered if Kate Madigan, his number one hatchetwoman, had known it was a fake Quincy. His mind drifted back to Friday ...

David Webster watched J. Deite intently but was careful to show no signs of his hatred. He'd been on the verge of unveiling his new upgraded BU-12C heavy combat units when Deite stole his thunder. Hopefully the boy wonder was about to fall flat on his face. On the various monitors a BU-12B model was rampaging. Typical 12B, Rocket Launcher on the left arm, 50 mm chaingun on the right. The heavy duty monster had already accounted for fifteen civilians and six ADP police officers. To say nothing of inflict dozens of casualties, serious and trivial. Mainly serious. The concealed cameras continued sweeping as they waited for the stars of the show to arrive. The ADP had pulled back as they waited for their heavy armour to be airdropped in. Then the 12B's bullet shaped head spun to three o clock. An aircraft was approaching swiftly and silently. It wasn't ADP. Looked like the Knight Sabers had arrived.

The Boomer launched three rockets at the VTOL. It dodged with ease and its counterfire destroyed all three missiles. The Boomer's tactical programming made it conserve the remaining rockets. Four armoured figures dropped from the hovering plane. They slowed their falls but still hit with impacts that should have overbalanced them. Three of the four landed smoothly. The pink suit seemed on the verge of toppling before regaining its' balance. Or rather her balance. Unlike the massive exosuits used by the police and the military these didn't conceal the sex of the operator through shear bulk. The suits were formhugging and made it abundatly clear that the wearers were female. Despite the relative thinness of the suits they could outperform state of the art military equipment. GENOM would have given a fortune to acquire the secrets of those suits. Considering the costs of the hardware the Knight Sabers had wrecked they already had. The ton & a half Boomer loomed over the foursome. The fight seemed totally one sided.

It was. The Boomer didn't have a chance and they all knew it.

Each of the suits was a different color and each operator displayed different characteristics. The Blue suit fought like a maniac frequently cutting herself off from support in her zeal for killing Boomers. The White suit fought calmly and methodically yet no less lethally. The green suit seemed to support the white suit and aid the Blue suit when possible. The Pink suit avoided combat as much as possible but had been known to destroy Boomers. Her function seemed to be mainly tactical and technological support.

All four were in motion from the moment of touchdown. The Boomer launched a rocket at the Green Saber who was instantly arcing over the Boomer. As the missle chewed up the side of a building the Saber touched down behind the Boomer. The "ribbons" trailing behind her wrapped around the Boomer's upper left arm. Suddenly they were charged and pulled through the arm like monofilament cord. The Boomer lost its' primary weapon. As this was going on the White Saber was dodging the Boomer's efforts to bring the chaingun to bear. As it seemed to get a lock the Saber fired a Beam Cannon from her right palm. The chaingun exploded and the Boomer was literally disarmed. A plate in its chest opened as it prepared to deploy the supernapalm spray available in this model. The Blue Saber slammed her railgun into the halfopen hatch and fired at pointblank range. Then kicked off from the boomer, riding the jump and the shockwave from the blast as the Boomer immolated itself.

All over in seconds. Not the sort of tape to show potential clients for GENOM's military hardware. Deite smiled slightly and nodded to his executive assistant Catherine Margrave. She sent a remote signal and the Boomer stepped from concealment. Time for the real test to begin.

The Pink Saber must have picked it up first because she began waving excitedly to the others. What appeared to be a standard C-55 Boomer stepped into view of the monitors. Blue, about two meters tall, main weapon a mouth mounted particle cannon. A far weaker machine that the BU-12B being designed primarily for urban combat. Also in pre-activation form they could pass for human, at least visually, which made them excellent spies and assassins.

The Blue Saber took aim and Deite nodded to his assistant. She triggered their secret activation protocol. Only Margrave and Jadeite knew it was a fake signal. Jadeite reached out with his mind and awakened the seed he'd planted in the C-55. It suddenly swelled increasing in size about 50%. What looked like blue hair sprouted from the chest and shoulders. The face twisted to become lionlike with a fringe of blue hair it. The hands and feet reshaped themselves. The feet were now had three clawed toes with a spur on the back. The hands became clawed as spikes grew from the knuckles. The Knight Sabers seemed momentarily off balanced by this transformation. Jadeite began the play by play.

"As you can see ladies and gentlemen the Hyper Boomer has shed its' camoflague and is now fully operational. This particular design is designed to impose a psychological response in the enemy. Namely fear."

The Blue Saber moved in fast ignoring the raised hand of the White Saber. The White and Green Sabers moved in to support their collegue. The Blue Saber ducked under the line of fire of the Boomer's particle beamer and surged towards it. Her armmounted railgun's mouth blurred towards the Boomer's face. Then stopped abruptly as the Boomer's hand caught her wrist.

The startled Saber ripped off a burst of fire. Which tore into the sky hitting nothing except a luckless pigeon. The Saber tried to break free but the Boomer's grip remained unbreakable. It began to squeeze and the Blue Saber's struggles became more frantic.

The Green and White Sabers moved in simultaneously. The White Saber's blade slid out of the armsheath as she landed in a crouch at the Boomer's feet. She surged upright blade out intending to disembowel this one as she had so many before. The blade scittered across the Boomer's armour without cutting in. The Green Sabre came in from above wrapping her combat ribbons around the arm holding the Blue Saber. They activated but didn't cut.

Jadeite continued, "As you can see as a result of the metamorphosis the unit's armour has retained the same mass while more than doubling in tensile strength." A lie but easer than explaining the forceshield.

The Boomer's free hand struck the White Saber knocking her down. Then the Boomer flung the Blue Saber into the Pink Saber who hadn't moved since contact. Both went down. Grabbing the Green Saber by the combat ribbons the Boomer began to swing her like a flail. Using its new weapon the Boomer began to pummel the White Saber.

Both Green and White Armour were now covered in dents. The Blue Saber broke free of her tangle with the Pink Saber and aimed her railgun at the Boomer. Nothing happened. It must have been damaged by the impact. Then something red, large and humanoid touched down by her. It must have been launched from the VTOL. The red mecha opened to reveal a human shaped space in the middle. The Blue Saber slid into place then charged the Boomer. With the mecha framework she was now about the same size as the Boomer. While it sported a large cannon she didn't dare use it with her battered collegues so close to the target.

The Boomer released its grip on the Green Saber's ribbons and moved to meet its attacker. The Green Saber lay unmoving at its feet. Both giants locked into hand to hand combat. For a few seconds they seemed equally matched. Then the red mech's limbs were forced backwards. Its' joints began to whine and smoke. The Boomer tired of playing games and focused its' particle cannon on the Blue Saber's head. Her armour wouldn't hold at point blank range.

A laser bolt glanced off its' skull. The Pink Saber was partially upright and firing from a kneeling position. With terrible timing (from Jadeite's viewpoint) the battered White Saber tried her armblade again. This time punching into the Boomer's armour. Jadeite cursed silently, he hadn't been able to get his enhanced Boomers to shield against both energy weaponary and physical assault simultaneously. It had to switch regarding the type of attack. It had reactivated the physical shield to stop the Saber cutting any further but this left it open to laser attack. The ablative covering wouldn't protect it for long. It turned its head to track and fire on the Pink Saber before the laserfire caused damage.

It was temporarily ignoring the White Saber. The shield would prevent her blade from inflicting further damage. Her beam cannon was obviously nonfunctional from damage inflicted with the Green Saber. So it concluded she was not an active threat. A mistake.

The Saber didn't try to cut further. She left the blade in place and channeled all her remaining power through it. Energy poured into the Boomer and it began to cook from the inside. Jadeite suppressed a curse. He'd underestimated them, probably because they were just humans inside those suits. An error he would not make again.

He felt the seed dying and deactivated it. The Boomer suddenly morphed back into a standard C-55 then exploded from overload. The White Saber was blown over and lay still. "I appear to have underestimated the Knight Sabers and should have deployed two units. However I believe the potential of this variety of Boomer has been adequetely demonstrated."

On screen the VTOL landed. The Pink Saber helped the Green Saber to stand upright and half walked, half dragged her into the VTOL. The smoking red mecha scooped up the still White saber and carried her into the waiting aircraft. The Pink Saber jumped back out just long enough to locate and grab the Boomer's head. She ducked back into VTOL which roared upwards and noved swiftly out of camera shot.

"Deite?" The Quincy replica's voice echoed across the table

"Yes sir?"

"What will they learn from that salvage."

"Not a thing sir. All they'll find is a standard C-55 Boomer." Why should they find anything else? After all there were no mechanical changes to the design.

Webster saw the chance to score a few points. "And we have to take your word for that don't we? After all you've been keeping the whole enhancement procedure top secret."

Deite smiled. "You haven't been able to learn anything from the materials you had stolen from B lab have you?" Webster began a furious denial and Quincy raised a hand.

"Enough bickering gentlemen. Deite, I like what I've seen. Madigan?"

"Yes sir?"

"See that Deite has access to all the material he needs and go ahead with the Brazil tests on sunday."

"Yes Sir."

The meeting broke up leaving Webster and his number two along with Deite and Margrave. She gathered up their equipment and followed Deite out. Webster snarled at Hashimoto, "I am going to find that sonofabitch's secrets. When I can replicate his results we won't need him anymore. No one will object if anything happens to him."

"Some of our female employees might." Deite was cutting quite a swath through them. The odd thing was just how successful he was. No woman seemed able to say no to him. Including the ones who loathed him. Yet all said it had been of their own free will, no coercern.

"Scumbag. Lucky scumbag."

"Were you able to get anything out of Margrave?"

Webster glared at his subordinate. It was common knowledge that though fiercely loyal to Deite his Executive Assistant was willing to sleep with anyone. At least the first time was easy. Few got to try a repeat performance. Anyone who though it would give them any kind of hold over her was mistaken. Deite didn't care who she screwed and she didn't seem to feel sentimentally inclined to any of her lovers. Bothering her would lead to a very loud, very public appraisal of your performance and its shortcomings. Webster had decided to try his luck. After she'd agreed (without noticeable enthusiasm) he'd set things up. She seemed to be always want to be in control so he'd take that away. She seemed like the type who needed mastering and he liked being a master. Once he dominated her she'd do anything for him. Including getting him the information she wanted. At least that was the plan.

During the evening she had evidently gotten bored, snapped the bonds (and how the hell did she do that?) and grabbed him by the throat. "Listen up little man because you aren't worth telling this twice. You have no idea what real power or real mastery is. It isn't these silly toys, it is part of who and what you always are. Lord J. Deite (strange way to say it) is one. There was another but he's gone. You aren't even close to them." While he was massaging his throat and gasping she'd got dressed and left. All things considered not a very successful evening.

To hell with it. He'd show that bitch and her gloryhound boss. "We're going ahead with the fieldtest. Make the arrangements!"

"Sir the Sabers might not be in condition to engage our upgrades ..."

"We'll give them two days to recover. Then we'll demonstrate that Deite isn't the only one who can build improved Boomers!"

Jadeite's thoughts returned to the present. All things considered the test was a success. Now he had access to all the materials he needed. You have no idea just what you've unleased Quincy, he thought. By the time I'm through you'll wish that Largo clown was all you had to deal with.

In her apartment Margrave poured a drink and toasted a black framed picture. Then flushed in embarrassement, which wasn't easy for her. Why did she do that? Why even keep a picture? She was alone and had dropped her glamour. A fur covered hand with retracted claws picked up the picture. Green eyes with catlike pupils gazed into the smiling features of Janet Ombari. Very white teeth contrasting sharply with the dark features. The way Margrave would always remember her. Much better than how she'd looked at the morgue.

Janet had been born in Kenya. She'd come over with her parents during the rebuilding after the quake. Finishing growing up in MegaTokyo she'd decided to stay and joined the horde of gaijin who crowded the city. She'd joined GENOM as a Motivational Counsellor and been a success. Her sunny personality seemed to be infectuous and she'd been credited with boosting productivity 10% in Boomer Bioconstruction Facility Epsilon. Reassigned to Boomer Development had brought her into contact with Catherine Margrave, the Executive Assistant to J. Deite. There were two sections working on the next phase of Boomer design. The two directors, Deite and Webster were constantly feuding and a lot of bad feeling was spilling out to their employees. So Janet had her work cut out for her. She'd been remarkably successful. Perhaps because unlike so many Counsellors her smile was real, she genuinely was a cheerful and good natured person. All counsellors smiled but with most it was just painted on. Scratch the surface and you found a bitter and cynical person.

It had just been a few weeks ago that Janet had dropped by her office. She was always dropping by on one pretext or another.

"Good morning Catherine." Margrave had suppressed a hiss. How anyone could be so cheerful so early was beyond her.

"I'll take your word for it. I keep telling you I go by either Cat or Margrave. Preferrably Margrave." Ombari loomed over her, at 6'3" she tended to tower. Margrave waved her to a chair.

"If you like. How about 'Grave to shorten it up a bit?"

"NO!" Why she reacted so strongly to her old nickname she wasn't sure. Perhaps because of who'd used it the most. Ombari was watching her carefully but didn't comment.

"OK, well then ..." The talk turned to various staff members who were having problems. Nothing really significant and nothing really to do with her. Margrave sighed.

"Janet, why are you really here?"

"Just trying to cheer you up. You seem to be down lately."

"Why? Everyone else has around given up trying to be friends with me. After they found out I wouldn't be buttering up the boss for them."

"Way I look at it is this ... it's as easy to be nice as nasty so why not be nice."

"Interesting logic. However I think this is the wrong company for that attitude."

Janet had shrugged. "In this town no matter where you work if you look under the surface it'll trace back to GENOM."

"I suppose. However it's easier for bastards and bitches to advance."

"So let them go. I don't want to climb the ladder. I'm happy down here. If the nastier people head up up and away that gets them away from me."

"Maybe. But I'm one of the bitches. Why bother with me?"

Janet had grinned. "To tell the truth you fascinate me. You've been here six months and I think every night you've gone home with a different man."

"A slight exaggeration. Anyway so what? I'm a little more extreme than most but it's not unique behaviour." It's also a lot safer for me than human females, she'd added silently. I can't catch human diseases and even if my breeding cycle activated there's no risk of pregnancy because of the genetic differences.

"Folks say you have the morals of an alley cat."

"They have no idea how right they are."

"What I say is you haven't found who you're looking for yet."

"WHAT!" In a cold tone Margrave had continued, "What makes you think I'm looking for someone!"

Ombari hadn't been daunted. "The fact you've gone through so many once only. If it was just sex you should have found a good lover by now. You're looking to forget someone and you need a substitute." Margrave hadn't said anything, she just stared. "Want to talk about it?"

"No ...", a brief pause, "Yes ... I mean maybe ... look why the hell should I tell you?"

Janet had looked genuinely concerned, "Because I think you need a friend. And I'm about the only shot you've got."

"That doesn't answer why you'd want to be my friend."

She'd shaken her head. "I honestly don't know. All I can say is you fascinate me for some reason. I think you have hidden depths."

"True there's none I wouldn't sink to."

Janet smiled. "Well sink down a few fathoms and betray a few confidences to me." To her surprise Margrave smiled back and nodded. Ombari had paused for a moment then asked, "Is it Mr. Deite?"

"No. Not that we weren't lovers for a time but that was more a matter of ... allegiances. When he decided to expand his horizons it was over. No big deal." I sort of regretted not captivating a Youma lord, she thought. Except after what he did to those children my skin crawled when he touched me. I wonder why? They were only humans, after all. Aloud she continued, "No need to be so formal about him. After all you've slept with him too."

Janet had nodded and looked a little puzzled. "I've wondered about that. I wouldn't have said he was my type but when he asked it seemed like a great idea. He's got remarkable stamina." Margrave had nodded, reflecting that a man with mind control powers could get any woman he wanted. If he chose to do so. Which brought her to thinking about someone else.

"So do you want to tell me about him. No need for names."

Margrave had sighed and sorted through her feelings. After a moment she said. "This was some time back. The guy was one of several I was seeing regularly. He worked for one of Deite's rivals. The brains behind his boss."

"Did he know about the others?"

"Yes. Seemed to accept it was part of who I am. He wasn't jealous."

"Said he wasn't or ..."

"Really wasn't. Guess he felt it was better to share me than lose me. Smart guy but had some blindspots about women. Never caught on that while he was around Azure's tongue was dragging on the ground." Unprompted she said, "Azure was this friend of his, personally I couldn't stand her. Drove her wild I got him before she could. Also she thought I was a bad infuence on his sister."

"Maybe this guy was just operating on your terms? Sex without any attachment, just for pleasure."

"It wasn't without attachment! Look if you use it right sex is a tool. What else did I have? I wanted to advance but I didn't have the power to force my way up the ladder. So you find someone who's got power and attach yourselves to them. And you use what you learn to move upwards."

Janet looked disappointed. "So this man was just a means to an end."

"NO! ... well partially. Initially it was just physical attraction and what he could do for me. Later on ... " Margrave trailed off.

"So he meant something to you but you didn't drop the others?"

"HE DIDN'T TELL ME TO! Besides I needed what I could get from them. They got a great time, I got to learn a lot of stuff that helped me."

"Do you think he understood that?'

"I ... I'm not sure. One thing I hope he realized. With them it was just screwing, with him it was making love."

"Did you ever tell him that?"

"No." Margrave's tone was flat.

Ombari tried to sort through what she'd learned about Margrave's moral code. After a few moment's silence she asked, "So what happened?"

Margrave had stared off into space. When Janet though she wasn't going to say anything she suddenly spoke. "Things went very wrong. Everything was going to hell. That's not a figure of speech. I was facing death and went looking for him. He had an escape route planned. He didn't even look back! Just cleared out with the people he'd chosen and left me to die." She was silent for a few moments. "It was only by chance that I stumbled into Deite and we both got away." She fell silent, immersed in her memories.

Janet tried to think what to say. "So he abandoned you and ..."

"You don't understand." Margrave was shaking her head. "I thought I had him but he was able to leave me without a qualm. After all I had no further value and would just have complicated his escape. A perfectly calculated, cold decision. I was the one with the false expectations. I should be proud of him."

Janet had just looked at her for a while. "Cat, you have a lot of problems."

"No shit."

Margrave's memory returned to the here and now. She extended an index claw and tapped the picture. "Why did I tell you all that? Don't tell me it was because I liked you. I'm a youma, humans mean nothing to us!"

"Then why did you avenge me?" the picture seemed to ask. She sipped her drink and remembered.

Four weeks ago she'd finally agreed to a girls' night out with Janet. Nothing sexual, if the other woman was coming onto her she'd have smelled the phermones. Just a night out for two friends. She still wasn't sure why she'd agreed. Probably she'd felt it would help maintain her cover. At any rate Janet arranged to meet her at Margrave's apartment. She never showed up. An hour after she was due to arrive the police called her. Janet had been found on the fringes of a slum zone. She was critically injured and undergoing emergency surgery at MegaTokyo General. Her attackers had left her electronic notebook which had Margrave's address displaying. The police had found it and called her. The constable advised her to upgrade her security system and watch out for strangers. Janet's attackers would also have seen the address.

By the time she got to the hospital Janet's abused body had given up the struggle to live. The police asked her to positively ID the body. She did. It was hard to associate the bloody ruin with the vibrant woman she'd known. The detective explained what had happened. They'd found Janet's car with a "crab" attached. A small robot designed to slid under a car and link to the electrical system. On a given signal it would fry the cars electronics with a localized pulse that would also knock out cel phones. Janet had been cutting through a downscale neighbourhood. Not quite a slum though on its way there. When she was stranded without transport or communication she must have thought it was a good enough neighbourhood to walk until she could flag a taxi.

They'd been waiting for her. The detective was saying they'd have to run tests to determine the number of attackers. Margrave already knew, she could scent five men. She could also tell the detective didn't hold out much hope for finding them.

So that was that. There was a company memorial and the next day it was business as usual. Janet's replacement came round to offer grief counselling but left hurridly at Margrave's request. Just a dead human, not worth getting upset about. Another statistic in a city full of them. Despite knowing all this Margrave couldn't let it go. Why?

Since she didn't have Renegade tendancies there had to be a reason she felt something must be done. Privately Margrave doubted there ever were such things as Renegades. Probably just a myth created to dispose of enemies by accusing them of it. That left her looking for a good youma reason why she wanted to do something about Janet's murder. After much thought she had the reason.

The Boomer development wing was the equivalent of Lord Jadeite's new fief which made the employees his vassals. Everyone knew only the Dark Generals (and her majesty) were allowed to kill their own servants. Someone had stolen that right from Lord Jadeite. Only he had had the right to kill Ombari. So it was up to her to avenge this attack on Lord Jadeite's privileges.

She'd begun stalking the slums. It had been easier than she'd expected. Go in looking helpless and wait for the predators to appear. One by one she'd encountered Janet's killers. After they'd got overenthusiastic and realized Ombari was dying they'd split up and hidden out in different slums until the hunt died down. Some had stayed loners, some had joined gangs. Now all were dead, along with quite a few others who wouldn't be missed. Lord Jadeite had seemed amused by her actions when he'd learned of them but he hadn't told her to desist. Now the hunt was done.

She'd always been a good huntress but no one in the Dark Kingdom had regarded her as more than a sex kitten. Not that she minded being a sex kitten but she sometimes wanted to be known for more than that. Well almost no one. Once again her thoughts turned to Calcite.

She remembered the last day clearly. She'd tracked Calcite and Titanite to the Eternal Sleep Chamber. Ti smelled injured. It was hard to keep her footing with the quakes rocking the Kingdom. She'd made it into the chamber to see Calcite standing with his back to her. Pyrite to his left, Titanite to his right, Azurite in front of him facing in her direction. All four had linked hands, energy danced around them. The crash and roar of the quakes was deafening. Azurite's gaze flicked to her then back to Calcite. Her old rival's expression showed no sign of triumph, just concentration. Margrave had known enough to recognise some sort of space warp. As she was screaming at Calcite to wait there was a flare of light and they were gone. A sparkling curtain of blue energy remained but began to shrink.

Then Lord Jadeite's crystal toppled from its pedestal and slammed into her. Both her and the crystal rolled into the field. Suddenly the Kingdom was gone, her senses were going crazy and everything hurt. She'd instinctively grabbed onto the crystal and locked her grip around it. The only solid object in this insane place. Somehow they'd been thrown into this world. Perhaps an effect of Lord Jadeite's own spacewarping powers as transit began breaking down the crystal. In any event she'd lost consciousness before arrival. The next thing she remembered was being shaken awake by Lord Jadeite. He was surrounded by fragments of the crystal and was demanding information on what had happened during his imprisonment.

That began her career as Jadeite's last real follower. The only person in this world who could truly appreciate him. His adoring audience. She was now the highest ranking follower of Lord Jadeite. Top of the heap at last. It was nowhere near as enjoyable as she'd expected.

Jadeite was also the only person in the world in whose presence she could truly relax. With all other people she had to maintain her glamour at all times. During all activities. Otherwise looking like a cross between a white persian cat and a centerfold would attract comment. Maintaining enough control to keep the glamour going meant exercising a self restraint during sex she wasn't used to. Of course she also had to ensure she kept her claws sheathed and her fangs unused. Humans were a fragile lot, especially after years with a lover with very strong bones and excellent healing abilities. It was rather frustrating. Conversely many of her lovers came away puzzled. The glamour would convince them that what they saw was real as tactile sensation told them they were touching fur, not skin. The glamour always won out but it caused psychic shortcircuits in a few.

When she'd first encountered Calcite they'd both been 13. It was shortly after he'd wiped out the youma boss by the name of Vekris. Vekris had decided to wipe out all the relatives of the leaders of a failed coup against him. One of them was Calcite's aunt. Calcite's mother was killed on Vekris's order and Calcite, his cousin and his sister were targetted for termination. This turned out to be Vekris's biggest and final mistake. After that Calcite acquired a reputation for two things; being a stone killer and protecting what he considered his. And avenging it if his protection failed. Margrave was ambitious but knew she had little real power. Her speed and strength weren't that unusual. Her only real powers were minor precognitive abilities. Not the sort of thing to overawe other youma. She'd realized there would be a lot of advantages if Calcite considered her his. So they had become lovers and she'd made sure it was well known Calcite wanted her healthy. From then on in the circles she moved no one dare touch her unless she wanted them to. It also also increased her appeal to officers of the smaller youma bosses. By having her they put one over on Magnesite's deputy. Margrave had smiled and collected information from them to boost her own standing in Jadeite's legion.

Wherever Calcite had gone it wasn't this world. So she'd never have to answer the question of what she'd do if she met him. To screw his brains out or rip his heart out, that was the question.

She finished her drink and put the picture back on the coffee table. Best to dispose of it before Lord Jadeite saw it. He'd been happy with today's test of the enhanced Boomer he'd sent to Brazil. Tomorrow, he'd promised, he would finally put reveal his plan. Tonight ... a quiet night for a change. Sift through her memories and get a full night's sleep. She had the sense major changes were coming. Perhaps her precognition was trying to tell her something.

Across town Calcite was talking to the desk clerk at the Imperial Hotel. "So I imagine we need a variety of documentation in order to check in?"

"Yes sir." English from his accent. There was something fascinating about his eyes.

"But you could bypass that if you wanted to?"

"Yes. It would be easy. I'd just have use my backdoor commands here and here. I just need pictures of the three of you. Insert verified credit history and airport arrival ... There, everything is clear."

"That's very helpful. Is anyone monitoring us?"

"Everything is recorded on the security monitors. They run a check every morning to see everything's fine. And to keep an eye on the staff."

"No way around that?"

"I could introduce a glitch into the security system. That happens sometimes. Luckily maintenance is slow about fixing it."

"Would you be so kind?"

"Of course. Let's see ... there we go, five minutes of static."

"You're very good at this."

"Well I've been using it to cover overcharging guests and skimming off the excess."

"I see. I think you'd better forget telling me that. Along with our having this conversation."

"Certainly sir."

"Thank you. Now I'd like two adjoining rooms. Both doubles."

"Luxury or standard?"

"Standard. Less conspicuous."

"Rooms 16 and 17 on the 20th floor. Here are you key cards. Would you like a porter."

"No, thank you." The threesome headed for the elevators. The desk clerk stared after him for a moment then shook herself and turned her attention back to the screen.

Calcite took 16, Azurite & Pyrite took 17. They unlocked the connecting doors and met in 16. Azurite noticed Calcite was looking more concerned than usual. "Still worried about what you did to that guy." He nodded.

Pyrite thought he knew the problem, "Cal I realize you feel terrible about killing him ..."

Cal looked surprised. "I don't." Pyrite was astonished, Azurite nodded in agreement. Pyrite wasn't a warrior, there were some things he just didn't get.

"But ..."

"Cousin he was trying to put a bullet in your back. He had no way of knowing it wouldn't work. Matter of fact we don't know for sure it wouldn't have penetrated your shield. I didn't intend to kill him but I'm not going to weep over him either. He acted, I reacted. That ends the moral implications from my point of view."

"Still he was a human being ..."

"I've thought about it and there's no intrinsic reason killing a human is worse than killing a youma. In both cases you're ending the life of a sentient being. Destroying all they are and all they could be. Ending a universe from some viewpoints. Sometimes it's necessary. This wasn't necessary but in combat it's easy to make terrible mistakes." Pyrite looked uncomfortable. Azurite could follow Cal's reasoning perfectly. In some ways she was radically different from Pyrite. But perhaps that gentleness was what she cherised about him.

"What really concerns me is that if I can't control my powers ..."

"That may not be the problem." Pyrite was back in his area of expertise. He held a paperback sized block of crystal and ran his fingers over it. The room filled with lights. "If you examine this power index ...", a coiled red spiral, "...and compare it to your measured kinetic wave potential ..." a multicolored soccerball sized sphere, "then we see that you just used a level 3 blast."

"Level 3? But that means ..."

Pyrite nodded. "It means he should have just been knocked over and lost his grip on the weapon."

"So how the hell ...?"

"I don't know. Perhaps his bones were abnormally brittle."

Azurite frowned. "Why would someone so weak try a physical assault."

"Hard to say. He was part of a gang ... maybe he was in the gang because he couldn't take care of himself. He had to run with a pack."

"Maybe. Alternately he was physically normal but our powers are more effective in this dimension."

"We'll have to be careful until we know for sure."

"Better find someplace to test our powers."

Pyrite didn't both agreeing. He didn't have much in the way of offensive powers. However he did have a sensitivity to energy fields and he felt something flare. His fingers danced over the crystal and the holograms vanished. Scanning ... There! "I'm getting a ... what looks like a lifeforce drain two kilometers west. It matches the profile for a youma created drain. Incredibly powerful!"

"That means jumping blind." Calcite dismissed his worries, this was what they came to find out. "Pyrite find us a clear space to land. Azure, you're with me." She nodded and tapped a bracelet. Her clothing morphed into her Sailor Arcturus costume. Calcite activated the transmutor in his watchband and felt his clothing shift to the Gray bodyarmour.

Azurite frowned. "No one's going to have any idea who and what I'm supposed to be."

"New worlds to conquer. I suppose this makes you the first Sailor Senshi of this world. Pyr, found a touchdown place?"

"Here! That'll put you near this tunnel. All the action's taking place underground. Link to these coordinates."

"Got it. Ready?" Azurite nodded and the two linked there teleporting powers. A few seconds to power up and sense their destination. Then there was a flare of light and Pyrite was alone.

Meanwhile the Knight Sabers were meeting at Sylia Stingray's apartment. Nene was the healthiest of the four having suffered only minor bruising. Priss was sporting a cast around her right forearm and multiple bruises. Linna was over her concussion but had three cracked ribs and a lot of aches and pains from being used as a whip. Sylia was limping and like the others had bruises over most of her body. They'd come perilously close to armour breach and that would have meant death.

Sylia decided to get the meeting underway. "As we all know our last outing didn't go very well." That got a snort from Priss and pained smiles from the others. "You must all be wondering what we ran into ..." Sylia actually looked uncertain for once. "Frankly I still don't know. The head Nene recovered tests out as a standard C-55 Boomer."

"That thing was no C-55!"

"I know Priss. While I might not know what it was I believe I know who designed it." The screen behind her lit up displaying the profiles of two men. Biographical data scolled by underneath them. "These are the heads of GENOM's local Boomer Development Division. The one on the left is David Webster. Nene managed to break into his files. He seems to working on a standard Boomer upgrade scheme. Faster CPU, better programming, improved servomechanisms, that sort of thing."

"Now the one on the right is Jason Deite, though he prefers to be known as J. Deite. We couldn't access anything out of the ordinary in his files, or his workers. In fact we couldn't even find a hint of what they're doing. They're maintaining a secrecy which I would have thought impossible in this day and age. The word around GENOM is Deite has a radical method of upgrading Boomers. But no one seems to have any idea how this method works. All we have are rumours that Deite alone supervises the final phase of the process and is keeping it top secret."

"Not much to go on."

"You're right Linna. The odd thing is when we traced Deite's background is doesn't seem to ring true."

"So GENOM created an identity for him. Probably he's wanted for illegal research somewhere."

"Could be, except it's so obviously artificial. They're generally more careful than that."

"So he could be an outsider who's wormed his way into GENOM to execute his own agenda?"

"If so he's somehow conned them into buying this phoney background."

"Maybe they're just letting him think he's got away with it. As long as they get his work in the end who cares?"

"Perhaps. But there are no indications of security checks. GENOM is treating his background as gospel truth."

Nene piped up, "His number two, a Catherine Margrave's got an equally fake background. And a reputation for going through more men than Linna."

Priss shook her head, "That's just not possible."

Linna looked at Nene, "Excuse me ..."

"I've got statistics from emails I intercepted."

"Just what are you two implying?"

"Still to beat Linna she'd have to ..."

"HEY! I don't have to take this. When was the last time either of you had a date."

Sylia sighed, things were about to degenerate. "Children, please!" The three subsided though Linna was still shooting dark looks at the others. "Returning to Deite. Thanks to Nene's hacking we've learned that he's removed 12 BU-1