Dark Kingdom Renegades/Sailor Moon : Thy Kingdom Come
by Mark Latus
Part 8 : Millennium's End

Josie Chen kept staring at the unchanging image before her and fought the urge to yawn. Vourinas was the overseer on this shift and he didn't like seeing inattention. From the gossip the technicians had overheard the other youma considered him an overzealous prick. The youma didn't particularly care if the humans either knew any youma'shak or overheard them. To them it was like the humans were beneath their concern for who cares what a servant thinks? A fact that had been useful for Josie when she'd been offered a few luxuries for making notes of anything subversive. It made life more bearable for her family in the Orlando enclave and there was a certain satisfaction in the knowledge that her reports might bring the feared "Blues" down on some of bastards that pushed her around.

At least she could dream of that but the fact was that none of the youma around here seemed particularly rebellious. They had humans to serve them and it was a foregone conclusion that you couldn't defeat the Dark Circle so why bother? Oh there was friction in the youma ranks but outright assassination and plotting were undercut by the Circle's prohibitions. Which translated roughly as, "We have filled the positions of authority with the best choices possible. If you chose to replace them that's fine as long as you are at least equally capable. Inferiority will be punished by prolonged death." This rather Darwinian managerial style seemed to work in curbing the youma's urges to seize higher rank.

All of which meant, like all the humans recruited by Azurite's feared intelligence division (the nickname of which derived from their leader sometimes known as Blue Death), she was unlikely to ever hear anything more damning than small talk. Making anything up was a suicidal idea. Shortly after being recruited she'd met the soul reader. She still had the odd nightmare about those black eyes burning into hers and the presence crawling through her mind. It had been a very effective way of preventing falsehood. She'd been told that if she reported anything big they'd use a soulreader on her to test the information's veracity. And if it found she'd lied her gods had better have mercy on her ... for the youma would have none. After that she'd never been tempted to tell anything but the unvarnished truth.

So she had a translator inserted secretly, listened to the youma talk around her as though she didn't exist and quietly placed weekly reports in the hidden drop box. In her flights of fancy she though of herself as a stereotypical dragonlady spy type. But the fact was she was more like a court clerk transcribing what she heard. None of which was particularly interesting. For an alien race the youma (despite their radically variable physiology) weren't that far from humans mentally. Rather like a human race ruled by their darker emotions but still understandable. Which was useful as being able to comprehend how they thought helped keep you alive. Yet she couldn't help feeling a tremendous disappointment. While she'd never really expected first contact in her lifetime she'd read enough SF to have definite opinions on how extraterrestrials should act. Alien invaders should be both mysterious and terrible. The youma were more like a pack of swaggering schoolyard bullies suddenly given liberty to do as they pleased. Okay so she wouldn't have been happy with "War of the Worlds" but still ... if humanity was going to be conquered why couldn't it have been by creatures with style?

Well some of them had style. The higher ranks had an icy dignity but they didn't mingle with humanity as a rule. Apart from their palace servants and those working on their special projects. Like her. Unbidden an image of Canaveral's master came to mind. Wrapped in black crystal armour yet moving as smoothly as if it was just cloth. Golden eyes watching the youma guards with a weary resignation and sparkling with interest as he talked to the technicians. Comprehending and solving problems in moments and enjoying the opportunity. A builder and a scholar rather than a ruler, eager for the chance to forsake the latter. A pleasant laugh and a human face. If the body beneath the armour could pass for human she could only speculate ...

Josie choked off that line of thought and cursed herself. What in God's name was she thinking? As if she really didn't know. You could call it, "Identification with the oppressor", "Stockholm syndrome" and probably a dozen other names but the end result was you sympathized with the bastards who were making your life hell. Which meant she wasn't nuts for starting to fantasize about their youma master. Just human. She sighed but stifled it as she saw Vourinas's reflection look her way. Silently she cursed either evolution or whatever deities there were. Whichever was responsible for designing humanity seemed to have given them a need to serve something greater than themselves. How long before most humans decided obeying the youma was the natural order? Hell, within ten years they'd be policing themselves without supervision and killing anyone who denied the youma's superiority. The future looked decidedly bleak. Not that there was a damned thing she could do about it.

Abrams returned from the meal run and Josie welcomed both the distraction from her dark thoughts and the food. There were another four hours in her shift and she was starving. No, she was hungry. She knew what starving felt like and this was just an irritation. Abrams distributed the bags quickly and silently to the others then plopped a bag between the monitor stations and took his seat beside her. The familiar Burger Kingdom logo adorned the bag, a fanged pale woman with a mass of flowing red hair (said to be a cartoon of the Overlord's predecessor) and the motto, "Have it our way ... or else!" It wasn't exactly a joke. On one of his visits Pyrite had commented the motto was a joke on the Overlord's part. But the youma who oversaw the base franchise took it seriously. Asking to hold the cailla could earn you a beating. Or worse.

Josie dug into her graxatburger and was halfway through when she noticed Abrams looking at his dubiously. She swallowed then whispered, "What's wrong?"

"I finally found out what a graxat is."

"Oh?" Cows were in very short supply these days. Matter of fact they might be extinct. The majority of surviving humans lived on a nutritious but almost tasteless fungus the youma had introduced. Being able to eat meat of any sort was one of the privileges of being bright enough to work here. Still the source of the meat was a matter of some speculation.

"I saw them unloading crates in the kitchen, they'd left the door open. It's a reptile of some sort. Looks kinda like an alligator with mange."

Josie studied her burger for a moment then took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Funny, it doesn't taste much different than the old hamburgers." Abrams laughed but she decided not to tell him she'd been serious. Besides she had other concerns, a light had just appeared on her monitor. She dropped what was left and started punching keys as she tried to enhance it.

"What's wrong?" She hesitated before answering. If this was a false alarm then she'd suffer for it. But if it was the real thing and she didn't report it ... No choice. She flicked a switch and sent a message to the control station.

Vourinas sat before his monitor killing time. From this balcony which overlooked the human workstations he could keep an eye on them but that got very dull, very quickly. Hardly surprising, the more rebellious humans had been weeded out early on. Those that remained were eager to bend a knee to the youma. The best he could find were minor infractions to punish and, as his reputation became known, those became few and far between. Which was as it should be but it made for a tedious duty. Oh Lord Pyrite said Spacewatch was a vital duty but nothing ever happened so he spent most of his time playing games.

Having dodged Sailor Ares' fireball he was about to chainsaw her in half when a message overwrote the screen. He scowled as the distraction let her get another shot at him and paused Senshi Doom. Stalking to the rail he leaned over and growled, "This had better be urgent Chin!"

Being too smart to correct the mispronunciation Josie stood and bowed before saying, "My apologies master but we have Lunar contact!" The youma stared at her for a moment the vaulted the rail and dropped the seven metres to the floor. He strode over to the station and studied the screen. Without looking at her he asked, "Are you certain?"

Are you kidding? The technology's an unholy hybrid of human and youma, all satellite signals have to received by naval platforms and filtered through relays because nothing on land can receive transmissions through the Darkness and we thought teleportation was impossible a year ago! Not being suicidal all she said out loud was, "That is what the instruments indicate and we've been rigorous in debugging." Which still wasn't an answer to his question but it was the best she could do.

Vourinas studied the screen for a moment longer then smiled. Action at last! Pausing only to remind her she'd suffer for any error (regardless of if it was her fault) he strode over to the priority comlink and demanded, "Connect me to Lord Pyrite!"

It took longer than he'd anticipated. Lord Pyrite wasn't in the Stronghold so the call had to be rerouted to the Citadel. Vourinas sneered at the face that appeared on the screen. He had no use for the freaks and resented their elite standing among his lord's servants. To be outranked by a cripple was a humiliation. Someday Lord Pyrite would tire of these inferiors and when he did ...

"I assume you called for a reason?" The cyberyouma's voice was dry, her face impassive. Vourinas realized he'd been standing thinking brooding on the unfairness of the hierarchy. Better get himself on track.

"I was unaware you were serving as our lord's secretary, Arimanus. I have important news so go fetch him!"

The red glow in her artificial eye seemed to deepen. "I answer Lord Pyrite's messages because he trusts me to filter out the drivel and there has been no shortage of that. So explain it to me and if it warrants his attention I'll pass it along."

He bared his fangs, "It is vital, that is all you have to know."

She looked amused, "He's in conference with the Overlord at present. Are you sure you want me to tell him you're interrupting them?"

The watch chief sweated slightly and considered threatening the human again. But that wouldn't change her readings so ... "Inform his lordship that we have registered a teleport signature on the Moon!"

The cyb nodded, "Understood. Pray you're right!" and broke contact. He glowered at the blank screen then strode back to the human. She was back at work doing something, perhaps merely looking busy. He was still halfway there when Lord Pyrite appeared on the reserved teleport stage.

Arimanus was with him, still closing the last seals on his armour. Pyrite waited impatiently then crossed the room the moment she'd finished. He studied the screen and nodded, "Confirmation. So he was right about their bolthole. If there was nowhere on Earth they could hide from him then they had to be somewhere offworld. As we knew the whole system was once habitable space seemed the only alternative. Though it now seems ..." He cut himself and nodded at Josie. "Excellent. Update the targeting data."

"Already done your lordship." The screen changed and columns of trajectories and impact points scrolled by. Pyrite smiled, he appreciated initiative among his servants. She sounded apologetic as she told him, "It's still pretty vague as the target zone is ..."

"Somewhere in a radius of about 30 km. Unfortunately our scanning capabilities lack precision over distances like this. I've definitely got to upgrade the systems. There's no saying what's lurking out there." He noted the surprised look on Josie's face and chuckled. "I'll bet you're of the school of thought that rejects the Dark Kingdom's existence and maintains we're aliens." She started sweating.

"My lord ... uh Master I ... I ..."

He waved a hand cutting off the panicked stutter. "Never mind, it's not important. I'm aware of the alternative opinions about our origins and I don't give a damn. I don't care if you think we're invaders from Tau Ceti or demons from Hell. Where you think we came from isn't important as long as we get respect and obedience. Wouldn't you agree, Arimanus?"

"Their obedience is the most important factor, Lord. But I question if they can fear and respect us properly if they don't know our true origins."

Pyrite looked thoughtful for a moment. "Perhaps you're right. We'll discuss it at greater length later. But for now there are more important matters afoot." He turned back to Josie. "However I will say this. While we are extraterrestrials our ancestors originated on this world. In a few cases, including my own, one of our immediate ancestors was a former human. If we did come from outer space don't you think it's odd that we've suddenly lost our space travelling capability and had to integrate human technology for this project?" He didn't wait for an answer but straightened up and began giving orders. The control room became a frantic hive of activity.

"... Number Fifteen targeting confirmed. All gauges normal and awaiting arming code."

"Excellent. Just one last step."

"A rather crucial one, Lord." Pyrite chuckled.

"Fortunately unlike our first monarch's deputies I don't make incredibly obvious oversights." He activated his armour's hotline. "Cousin, are you ready?"

"I've been waiting for you. Not wise to keep Overlords waiting, you know?" The tone was light and bantering.

"Who put the barrier there in the first place? Anyway if you would kindly ..."

"I'm already doing it. Check your monitors." Pyrite glanced at the screens showing the feed from above the launch silos and nodded. He noticed several humans staring at the screen almost hungrily. Doubtless all the humans in the nearby enclaves were gazing at the sky as the word spread. Enraptured by the sight of the stars over Florida for the first time in a year. Enjoy it while you can, it won't last long. "Launch!"

Vapour poured out of the silos thicker and thicker then the rockets tore skyward. Pyrite nodded in satisfaction. The humans' brute force chemical rockets would provide escape velocity, after that ... But there was one more vital step to fulfill. According to the altimeters the last of the missiles was now out of range in the event of premature detonation. Therefore ...

Pyrite hit the transmit key on the console before him and sent the message. One after another the lights turned green as the arming code was accepted. Excellent. Once more he congratulated himself on his foresight in having Calcite obtain some of the humans' toys for the Circle instead of neutralizing them all.

"Penetration of the exosphere. Rockets will complete firing in thirty seconds."

"Shut down of rockets confirmed. Pulse drive coming on line."

"Initiate pulse drive." Pulse drive. Such an innocuous name. Do you know that it's powered by the lifeforce drained from Calcutta? It's amazing what you can do learn to do with it when you have no shortage for experimentation. Josie wondered why he was smiling.

"Initiating. We have acceleration confirmed."

"Estimated time to arrival?"

"Seven hours, forty seven minutes, and twenty seconds." A large digital clock over main monitor lit up and began counting down. Pyrite smiled.

"Excellent. Keep me informed if anything changes. Otherwise don't bother me as I've got other matters to occupy me for the present. Arimanus we are departing for the Citadel."

"Yes Lord."

"Vourinas, I am returning Spacewatch to you. Keep on top of things."

"Yes your Lordship." Pyrite turned to step to the teleport stage but stopped long enough to glance at Josie and say, "Keep up the good work, Chen." Vourinas silently cancelled plans for retribution against the human who'd questioned his race's nature. He'd have to take it out on somebody else.

When she was sure Vourinas had gone Josie whispered to Abrams and whispered, "He's not such a bad guy."

"Yeah, for a leader of the bastards who wiped out most of humanity he's a really sweetheart. For God's sake don't start thinking that way!" There was a pointed silence.

At length Josie said, "Well, you have to admit an eight hour flight to the moon's a helluva leap."

"Yeah and what are they planning to do once they reach it? Nuke it to take out some enemy moonbase that may not even exist! For all we know this whole things the result of some sort of glitch in their scanners. But if somebody does has a base up there then this could be the start of some sort of interplanetary war between the youma and who knows what. And as we launched the attack we've got ringside seats for anyone who retaliates!" That pretty well killed all conversation for the next hour. Overhead the darkness flowed back, eclipsing the stars.

Arimanus bowed as the throne room doors opened but made no move to follow Lord Pyrite inside. Whatever was going on was a matter for the Dark Circle alone. As she straightened up before the doors finished closing she again glimpsed the five pillars that had risen from the floor at the Overlord's whim. It was not her place to question but she couldn't help speculating upon the figures spreadeagled against the pillars, their hands and feet merging with the black marble to hold them in place. All were either asleep or unconscious and none had stirred since she last saw inside. She knew who four of the five looked like except that two were dead (in fact she'd seen their remains very recently) while the others lacked the injuries they'd gained during Ascension. The blonde girl with the ungainly hairstyle was unknown to her but, given the company she kept, Arimanus could guess who she was supposed to be. But why? Well, best not to ask. If Lord Pyrite thought she could know he'd tell her. Which was odd for a youma lord but she had no complaints.

The doors sealed and she marched to the teleport stage. Her orders were to return to the Stronghold and keep things running smoothly in his Lordship's absence. Whatever was going on it had reached a critical stage and he didn't want any more interruptions so maintaining his domain was once again her responsibility for the present. As always the thought made her smile. She'd been nothing, a cripple cast aside to await death before he'd chosen her for the prosthetic experiments. Now she stood at the right hand of a Dominion ruler capable of repaying those who had spat on her and called her useless. In defeat malice, in victory revenge! An old saying she'd enjoyed fulfilling. Now if only something would happen to Lady Azurite ... She cut the thought off immediately, some things were best not even fantasized about. Hard as it was she'd have to be content with what she had. But should he ever tire of her Ladyship Arimanus would be waiting.

Inside the throne room (aware of but uninterested in his subordinate's desires) Pyrite gave a quick respectful bow to his cousins. Calcite could tell he was ready to unveil a revelation and waited with interest.

"Welcome back cousin. I take it you have an answer to our enigma?". By contrast Titanite could barely contain her impatience.

"So let's hear it! I wanna know what went wrong with Shadow and how they beat my security sensors!"

"The short answer cousin is they didn't. Shadow still obeys your every command and your palace is as secure as ever."

"SAY WHAT! Maybe you didn't notice but they waltzed in like they owned the place! How you can you say everything's fine?"

Calcite smiled indulgently at his sister then commented, "I must admit to a certain confusion of my own. So let's hear the long answer."

"As you command oh Supremacy ..."

"Enough with the buildup, let's hear the story."

"Okay, just bear with me for a couple of minutes." Calcite nodded. A few moments later the sulky Titanite muttered, "Fine, let's hear it."

The pillars were arranged in a V with the human girl at the point. To her right were the Ares and Zeus lookalikes while Aphrodite and Hermes occupied the left. Pyrite strode over to the first figure on the right and ran a hand over the senshi's outflung arm. Rei twitched her head slightly but gave no other sign of awareness.

"As you both know the abrupt appearance of these replicas with senshi capabilities was a real puzzle. Particular in the case of these three as we had no shortage of evidence that they were dead. I came up with a number of theories to account for the doubles but I've narrowed it down to one."

"To backtrack a little the first thing I checked was the glaciers. They were undisturbed so we weren't looking at a return from the dead. However I did take tissue samples from the glaciers ..."

Titanite interrupted, "You should have taken some before we froze them!"

"I did but I had to allow for the possibility that they'd been tampered with if our security was vulnerable. At any rate I took samples from our trophies then compared them to the three matching live ones." Pyrite gestured at the wall activating a projector built into the armour's arm. Two computer enhanced pictures materialized, false colour had been added to highlight the picture. Even to a layman the similarities were obvious. Pyrite lowered his arm, the image remained fixed in place being of magical origin despite the analysis's technical nature. "I ran them through the genome project's human members and confirmed the match ..."

Calcite frowned slightly. "Was it wise to involved them?"

"They've got the best resources for checking DNA and could use a little real work to keep them on their toes. Besides they're years from completion so the computer time I took won't cause any delays. And if you mean could they have falsified the results I had a soul reader check the tests. All of which confirmed that any rebellion is very unlikely to be lead by our pet geneticists."

"Years from completion? Any way to speed that up?" Pyrite laughed.

"Cousin, they hadn't even completed work on the human genome before the conquest. Matter of fact we've already had two nervous breakdowns among them after they started work on classifying Youma genes. Problem is they've never had to worry about alchemical makeup and mana's influence on the next generation in their earlier work. Factor in integrating Youma own genetic science, which I largely built from scratch and isn't good for much beyond detecting the Renegade signature, and we're looking at a hodgepodge that's unlikely to produce results anytime soon." Calcite sighed and Pyrite added, "I told you from the start it would be a very long-term project."

"So you did. Besides we haven't even completed phase two yet. All things in their time." With that the Overlord abandoned the matter and brightened up as he gestured from the picture that shimmered on the wall to the captive senshi. "But all of this has nothing to do with the current problem. Sorry for sidetracking you. Please go on."

"My pleasure, I've been looking forward to this. As you can see this one not only looks like Sailor Ares, genetically she's a match. Same as those two match Moon and Aphrodite. They aren't completely identical. This Ares is older than the frozen one. More puzzlingly she seems older that she would be even if she'd survived the battle at the North Pole. The same is true for the other two."

Titanite had been waiting impatiently for the conclusion but now seemed to take an interest. "Oh? I thought they looked a bit different from the pictures. So what's the answer, cloning?" As the adults looked at her she shrugged and said, "I picked up the term from some human media. That's where they grow people in these big vats ... except I was told they can't do that yet."

Pyrite nodded, "Cloning remains in the realm of science fiction for human technology. Not to mention our little incursion has put a definite dent in the realm of pure research. It's also beyond our own capabilities. However there remained the possibility that during Silver Millennium the technique was known and Hermes had revived it."

"Makes sense. So she found it and recreated the senshi. They were acting just like the senshi used to." Yet even as she said it Titanite frowned. Something just didn't add up.

"As you've just deduced their behaviour doesn't fit with Hermes's objectives. These were acting like the pre-conquest senshi and Hermes is far too smart to lead them into battle. Even if she somehow recreated the Senshi in both mind and body she wouldn't have been foolish enough to take them into combat without extensive retraining! There's also the question of why stop with five? Why not create an army of senshi clones?"

"Maybe they've got minds because they gained the souls of the original senshi ... No, that doesn't work. We've got the souls on hold ...", she paused to look at her brother who nodded to confirm stasis was intact, "Besides which that wouldn't explain another Hermes and Zeus. There's also this Sailor Polaris bitch to consider. Name of the Abyss who's she supposed to be? The others may be copies but she's a complete unknown!" She missed the look Pyrite and Calcite shared. Pyrite cleared his throat.

"Sailor Polaris is the key to this whole mystery. Once I abandoned cloning as the source of our problems I considered another hypothesis. It took some time to confirm my suspicions as I wanted to be sure. With your permission ...?" Calcite nodded and Pyrite opened the hip-pod on his armour. He removed two multifaceted crystals which he tossed to land equidistant between the unscarred Hermes and Zeus. Life-sized three-dimensional (though somewhat translucent) images appeared, Titanite on the left, Polaris on the right. From the attire the Titanite hologram must have been taken at the party or reconstructed from pictures taken there. Titanite's gaze bounced between one and the other. Something was wrong here, she felt uneasy and couldn't say why. She heard Pyrite give a command and the images began to change.

The jewellery faded from the hologram Titanite as the dress began to morph. The skirt became looser and grew a little longer. The dress grew upwards to cover her shoulders. Her high heels faded to be replaced by flat heeled boots. Skintight gloves flowed over her arms while a cute bow centring on a green locket appeared on her chest. All the new clothing had been coloured as black as her original outfit but this began to change. The ruffled skirt shifted to a bright yellow while the gloves and leotard jumped to the other end of the spectrum becoming a brilliant white. The ribbon and boots became a deep emerald green to match her hair. On the other figure the change was far less dramatic. Her mask faded away. Titanite looked from one to the other and her jaw dropped. It was like looking at mirror images. "They ... they're identical!"

"Actually, no. If you look closer you'll note Polaris is 3.2 cm taller." Pyrite cut himself off before commenting that the other was somewhat better developed but still had a long way to go. Cousin or not there were some things you don't say to a princess. "However side by side the resemblance is unmistakeable." Titanite's face purpled as she blushed. How could she have missed it with just one crummy mask for a disguise? It suddenly struck her that the other had even sounded like her! Abyss! They must have seen it from the very beginning! She felt like a fool. Calcite would very rightly think her an idiot.

She felt a hand on shoulder and, face burning, looking up at her brother. "It's okay. No one expects to see meet themselves let alone have a double attempt to assassinate them." There was no hint of mockery in his voice and Titanite felt a little cooler. Calcite never made fun of her, she could always depend on him to say the right thing.

Dragging her mind away from her shame she managed to ask, "Then she was there to eliminate and replace me? That ... makes sense. When the guards broke in they'd find the senshi supposedly defeated by me and depart. Any extra dust would be assumed to be Magnesite's who, sadly, got killed in the battle. Then the other me takes the 'helpless' senshi to some other member of the Circle for gloating over, they 'break free' and try to create a few more vacancies." The last of the blush vanished as she started thinking tactically. She turned to Pyrite, gesturing at Polaris. "She doesn't just look like me does she?"

"You're correct. Genetically and aurawise she's a match. That's how she was able to break security and why Shadow failed to attack her. She didn't override the system, it simply followed it's programming to obey you. Same as Shadow, his personality is hardwired so he can't hurt Titanite. We just never considered the possibility of their being more than one of you."

Calcite nodded, "There was no reason we should have. Besides how do you differentiate between two identical people?" Pyrite was about to mention a few ideas but his cousin didn't give him a chance. "However that leaves the question of where this replica came from." He had the glimmerings of an idea but it seemed too farfetched. At least until Pyrite asked, "Are you familiar with the concept of alternate worlds?"

"Vaguely. Go on."

"The idea is that every course of action has a number of possible outcomes. While only one can happen they all happen somewhere. So outcome A happens here, outcome B happens in another world, outcome C happens somewhere else and so on. With each decision new possibilities arise and again they all have to happen somewhere. So we have all these worlds continually branching into new worlds with every decision. Millions of them being born with every moment ... at least that's the theory. I'd never seen any evidence to support it and we still don't know that there's an infinite number of alternate worlds out there. But we do know there's at least one."

"And that's the origin of these characters?" The Overlord sounded slightly disbelieving, "They crossed here from some other world?"

"More than that. They crossed over from a world where the Dark Kingdom lost." There was a brief silence as they stared at their cousin. Then Calcite said simply, "Justify that."

"Very well. You noted their behaviour didn't match Hermes or Zeus as they currently are. Instead they acted like our senshi did in our old days. The same way they'd act if they'd won the final battle and didn't have to adapt to a world dominated by the youma. It would also be why they'd come here so carelessly. If they've beaten us once how hard can it be the second time around?"

"That ... makes sense. So somehow Hermes makes contact with this other world and convinces them to aid her? And they cross over sure that they'll take care of things without a problem doing it their way. That fits with what we know about the attack."

Titanite looked dubious. "Okay, so that explains the other senshi but what about her. Why would any version of me call herself Sailor Polaris?"

There was silence as the two adults shared a look. Then Calcite asked, "Tell me sister, if all the youma but you were destroyed and the senshi found you ... what would you do?"

Titanite frowned as she considered the question, "Well ... they might be less than eager to destroy me because of my appearance. I'm their age and I look human. So I'd take advantage of that and throw myself at their feet and beg for mercy saying I hadn't wanted to be a part of the Dark Kingdom but I couldn't help where I was born. I'd plead for a second chance saying I'd been too young to be part of anything. Hopefully they'd give me a chance and I'd work on earning their trust. I'd be careful not to overdo it ... making mistakes and learning from them. In time they'd come to think of me as one of them and I'd do everything I could to help them. I'd move slowly, learning all I could until the right day came. On that day I'd kill them all ... ideally having a chance to gloat over their stupidity but that would be unlikely to happen ... getting the job done's more important than gloating, you taught me that brother. Then I'd take the ginzuishou from Sailor Moon's body and use it and my powers to carve out my own little empire."

Calcite smiled, "Very good sister."

"I had the best teacher. So you think that's why ...?"

"It's the most likely explanation" Unless the other Titanite ... no, she'd needed strengthening. Surely his counterpart had done the same. Had there been an alternative ... Enough! You could waste your life on "what if ... ?" and "if only ..." What mattered was the way things were, not the way they should be. Suddenly something occurred to him. Something wonderful. He stepped to the pillar that held Sailor Aphrodite ... No, she'd called herself Sailor Venus, hadn't she? For a moment he studied the slumped blonde held in place by her bonds then reached out to brush a hand over her cheek. She didn't stir and he turned to address his cousin.

"So effectively this senshi, Venus, is identical to Aphrodite in both mind and body?"

"More or less. She's about a year older than Aphrodite though their memories up to Ascension should be effectively identical. I expect there's some variation but personality-wise they should be the same."

"But for all practical purposes it's as if Sailor Aphrodite is back?"

Pyrite nodded, "Yes." Fortunately what his cousin wanted to hear was also the truth. The Overlord chuckled.

"Second chances are so very rare they must be seized when they present themselves. And with Poseidon's passing I have vacancy to fill." Pyrite hid his distaste, he killed when necessary but had no interest in torment. Not that he didn't understand Calcite's need to keep Metallia satiated (yet wasn't he becoming too eager? He quelled the thought) but he had no desire to emulate him. Still needs must when the demon drives and all power has its' price. Besides Calcite had gained them all security and authority. Surely he deserved to enjoy himself? Thinking in those terms made it a lot easier.

"So you'll be installing her in the ... uh, playroom. What about the others?"

"I haven't decided yet." He turned his gaze to Jupiter and Mercury. "It occurs to me these two could be an unexpected dividend. If the plan works optimally we won't have any remains to display. Showing the corpses of Zeus and Hermes would be a great blow to the remaining spirit of resistance left in humanity. Or better still showing the execution of their champions ..." He looked thoughtful and Titanite frowned.

"I've gotta say, big brother, that there's a couple of problems with trying to pass them off as 'our' senshi..." He nodded.

"They'll need some cosmetic adjustments."

"Can I handle that?"

"Perhaps." He smiled, "However that's not what you really wanted to ask me, is it?" His sister sighed.

"I'm really transparent to you, aren't I? Okay here's the thing ... You need those two to provide bodies but these other three could raise a few tricky questions so I'm guessing no one else gets to see them, right?"

"Correct. I'll have to adjust a few memories among those who witnessed their attack but that should be simple enough."

"Quicker just to clean house. I know, I know! 'Waste not, want not' and 'don't junk useful tools just because it looks cost effective'. Anyway that means these three stay under wraps. Now you're keeping Aphrodite and who else deserves the Moon Princess but this new Ares doesn't mean a thing to you." With that she crossed over and put a possessive hand on Rei's shoulder. "So what I was wondering was ... could I have her? I'd love to have my own senshi to torture. Please? Pretty please."

Calcite looked undecided but Pyrite already knew he'd say yes. She could wheedle just about anything out of her brother. He found it hard to refuse her anything. But he would play the occasional game.

"Well I don't know ..."

"Oh come on. I swear I'll be careful. I'll put her in a nice secluded chamber off-limits to everyone except me and Shadow. I promise no-one'll find out about her. Please?" She looked surprisingly cute when she was saying this. It almost made you forget what she was asking for. Almost.

"I suppose. But not until we're through with them."

"Thank you brother." She looked gleeful, "This is going to be fun. For me anyway." Pyrite wondered if she'd get carried away and break her new toy quickly. Best not to think about it. Stick to your research, it's abstract. But first ...

"So are you planning to wake them up?" Calcite shook his head and Titanite looked surprised.

"Why not?"

"Patience, sister. All things in their time. Besides it'll make a good celebration for our Luna project. So we'll wait until they recover." He smiled. "However I will remove Aph ... Venus to her new quarters. It'll give her time to get to know her roommate." Pyrite decided to speak before he departed and turned to Titanite.

"If you don't mind cousin I was wondering if I could borrow the ginzuishou?" Automatically her hand rose protectively towards it then stopped.

"Why?" She sounded suspicious. Pyrite held up the locket they'd removed from the former Sailor Moon and opened the lid.

"I'd like to compare it to the one they brought with them. Why it stopped working all of a sudden is a mystery. There could be some sort of glitch. It'll also let us know if yours is likely to malfunction and may give me some clues why it's so much less effective for you than it's alleged to have been."

Titanite looked hesitant. The thought of losing control of the crystal, however briefly, was worrying. On the other hand her brother looked in favour of it and Pyrite was family. These were the only people in creation she could trust and being able to rely on one another was the foundation of the real Dark Circle. She still remembered her brother's words. "We are different and they would destroy us for that. We must never forget we are alone. We can depend on no-one but each other but that is our strength for they can trust no one at their back. As long as we are united we can overcome any obstacle. Never forget this." That was why she reached behind her neck and unsnapped her choker. She handed it to Pyrite who immediately took both silver crystals over to the workbench he set up and became oblivious to everything else. Her brother smiled and shook his head then stepped over to the unconscious Venus. Both disappeared and Titanite sighed and looked for diversion. She glanced towards Mars but made no move towards her. Her brother was right, anticipation would make the payoff more enjoyable. She should make some plans, that would occupy her mind. With that thought she grabbed a blank notepad from Pyrite's pile and began to sketch. Soon she was engrossed in her plans and dreaming of things that would have been nightmares to her counterpart. And, not that long ago, to her as well.

Sitting among the ruins that had once comprised the grand capital city of Queen Serenity's Lunar Kingdom Margrave wished she'd brought a book or a walkman. She glanced up at the darkened world and shook her head. They had journeyed to this universe, on this fools errand to save the senshi, intending to face a demonic version of Calcite who ruled both Earth and the youma. Boredom was the last thing she'd expected. But that was her current problem. She idly flicked a pebble, noting the lunar gravity's influence and sighed. She'd been flicking them through the atmosphere wall, watching the impacts in the vacuum beyond before Hermes ordered her to stop. She doubted the shield was that fragile but wasn't about to argue with a senshi of dubious sanity if she could avoid it. On the brighter side her headache was gone and she felt in a much better temper.

Margrave glanced around at the limited area she could explore then returned her attention to the others. Pyrite was the only one truly busy, engrossed in the texts they'd retrieved in the Dark Kingdom he seemed oblivious to everything and everyone else. Occasionally he'd return to reality and bounce an idea off Azurite. She rarely knew what he was talking about but did her best to answer. Besides it was mainly to help him assess his own ideas by hearing them out loud. Hermes sat with the pair looking grimmer than usual as she obviously couldn't follow the intricacies of youma tech but was hardly about to admit it. Zeus seemed to be inventorying their merger stores yet again while Calcite was taking the opportunity to improve Ti's shaping abilities. With limited success.

Ti kept her eyes closed and concentrated, "Okay, I have the pattern in my mind ... the power comes at my call, my will binds and shapes it ... I feel the hilt forming in my grasp ... the blade next ... it grows from the hilt sharp as my thoughts ... I fix its' form and I am done. I have forged a sword!"

"That is a polo mallet." Calcite sounded tired. Ti opened her eyes and looked at what she was holding.

"How did that happen? I was sure ..." She noticed her brother's expression, "Uhm ... well I'm getting closer ... this definitely looks more like a sword than a mega mallet ..." Calcite sighed and seemed to pluck a sword out of thin air. He carefully held it to his sister hilt first.

"Okay, study the pattern again and let's give it another go."

"Uhhh ... say Cal have you ever considered the combat versatility of the mallet ...?" She trailed off, ditched her creation and took the sword cautiously. "I'm getting better, right?"

"You've definitely got the mantra down pat. Now let's see if you can create anything other than mallets." Ti nodded and got back to work. Margrave doubted Cal expected her to learn anything combat useful in such a short time. He was just keeping her too busy to worry about their current situation. Too bad she had nothing to distract her.

She glanced around their little world and muttered about the lack of privacy. If there'd been anywhere secluded she might have borrowed Cal for a while but the crowded closed quarters would inhibit him. Still there was one thing that might kill some time. With that thought she ambled over to the glowing circle in the center of the invisible dome. The place "Queen Serenity" had appeared after they arrived.

She'd been a little disorientated on arrival by both the weaker gravity and the abrupt change in background. She'd been snapped back to reality by Hermes confirming Pyrite's suspicion they were on the moon but had listened to them without interrupting.

Pyrite had nodded and expressed admiration at the ingenuity of the senshi's base. Then he'd got analytical. "There are two things that I have to ask. According to the Dark Kingdom's historical records the moon was a habitable environment. All the contemporary records of the human lunar expeditions contradicts this yet we're obviously within a breathable environment. Why wasn't this detected by the Apollo missions? Secondly, how did you manage to establish a teleport point up here."

Hermes hadn't looked willing to divulge anything. But a glance at Zeus had reminded her that these youma were the closest thing to allies she had so she'd better answer.

"The answer to both questions is the same ..." With that she'd strode to a small cleared patch a few metres away and waved her hand above it. A small glowing circle of light had appeared on the cracked marble and a miniature figure had appeared, "Queen Serenity."

The youma had all stared at the dollsized woman in amazement. This was the ancient enemy Beryl had cursed at every, "Feast of Metallia" for over 2000 years? She didn't quite fit their preconceived picture of a warrior queen. Of course it took some doing to see Sailor Moon as the almost messianic Moon Princess until they'd witnessing her in action so perhaps it ran in the family.

Things were getting a little too solemn so Margrave commented, "That's Queen Serenity? I was expecting someone taller."

Hermes had glowered but answered, "This image is somewhere between a prerecorded message and the magical equivalent of an AI. Shortly before her death ..." Hermes paused then resumed, "... or perhaps a little afterwards Queen Serenity imprinted some of her mind into this place. She also placed a preset spell into the mana fountain below. It's flow had been disrupted by the banishment but she knew it would resume someday. The lunar atmosphere was lost when the disruption wave shattered the powers binding it and the air boiled away into space. For thousands of years this place was in vaccuum. Then the mana flow resumed and the spell activated generating this habitable place. It's fairly limited, if you walk more than 30 meters in any direction you'll be trying to breath in vaccuum so don't wander unnecessarily." Everyone glanced around noting the ruins dabbed with red paint and the pylons which marked the limit of the world. Hermes resumed.

"Where exactly the oxygen came from I don't know. Possibly it was transmuted from other matter as we haven't spotted any vaccuum desiccated corpses. At any rate once the atmosphere was in place it was a matter of waiting for the senshi to be reborn." She nodded towards the minature Serenity, which smiled benignly and inclined her head but did nothing further, and continued. "Serenity's ... the imprint's purpose was to give us the details we lacked from our former lives. As far as I've been able to determine the first time we used the Sailor Teleport the spell was supposed to divert us here. But Kunzite pre-empted things by using that space-time disruption technique on us and that sufficed to bring us here. Unfortunately our rebirth seems to have taken much longer than Serenity anticipated. 'Serenity's' memory decayed over the ages. Much of what she was to tell us was lost. Usagi was the only one to get a clear picture of the past and most of what she saw was scattered images of the fall. I suspect she was supposed to unlock the memories of our past lives so we could regain full knowledge of our powers but she lost that capability too."

"At any rate my computer logged the location automatically though I didn't realize it at the time. But that meant when I ... hacked the youma teleport network I had valid coordinates for here. Initially I thought we'd found a perfect bolthole for basing a resistance movement." Hermes cold expression seemed to waver as the memory of her disappointment resurfaced. "Then we learn just how limited this space was. Add to that the lack of any supplies other than air and we had a logistics problem." Calcite, Azurite and Margrave had already noted the stacked piles of foods (nonperishable and requiring no or minimal cooking), watercans and a chemical toilet. Pyrite was more interested in the magic involved while Ti was fascinated by the Serenity image. "However it remains the one place the youma can't find us."

"Until they manage to trace your teleport." Hermes glared at Pyrite.

"We're extremely careful about that. Add to that until today no one else knew this place existed and the youma have no reason to suspect we're here!"

Pyrite nodded then asked a question that got everyone worried. "How many people can the atmosphere renewing spell support?"

After a moment Hermes answered, "It was designed to support the senshi after arrival via teleport ... a minimum of five as that's what the teleport requires under normal circumstances. Still the spell is old and could be decaying like Serenity... I periodically scan the oxygen content as a standard precaution. I'll let you know if it seems to be dropping." No one had felt very reassured but Pyrite had just nodded, spread out his counterpart's books and crystals and got busy. Everyone else had looked for some other way to occupy themselves while they hoped he'd find a line of attack.

Lacking diversion Margrave had decided to have another look at Serenity. The silver haired figure in the white gown appeared as she waved her hand through the space Hermes had but gave no sign of acknowledgement. Every attempt to get a response failed and Margrave felt her temper rise. This thing was just some sort of magical computer program. How dare it ignore her!

Wait! She reconsidered her analogy and nodded. Maybe it was literally a program equivalent ... but to run it you needed access and she didn't have the right password. Namely being a senshi. Almost on cue Sailor Zeus approached.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Margrave considered lying but shrugged and said, "Looking for diversion, this place is incredibly boring. Any archaeologist would kill to be here but I've got a very low tolerance for staring at ruins. To them it'd be a historical treasure trove. To me it's just a pile of shattered rock. So I thought I'd have a word with the Adversary here.

"Who?"

"That what we called Serenity back in the Dark Kingdom. 'The accursed queen who cheated us of our rightful conquest by exiling us to another dimension. But with Great Metallia's power we will overcome her seals and return to reclaim our prize ... yadda, yadda, yadda.' Beryl probably made the same speech every feast day for over 2000 years.

"That's a ... different view of Serenity that the traditional one."

"Hey, we were the bad guys. It'd be funny if we respected Serenity." Struck by something Margrave looked up at the Earth. "I wonder if they still celebrate the Feast of Metallia now that she's part of Calcite?"

"No, the only youma holiday I've heard about is Ascension Day and they just celebrated that." At Margrave's startled look Zeus added, "We've been looking for good times to stage raids. Ami had this theory that during a holiday's a great time as hopefully the guard forces would be largely off duty, unorganized and hopefully drunk. But Ascension was the only holiday and we wound up using that to cross over."

"Figures. So can you get her to say a few words?"

"She's not a toy!" Margrave flinched at the senshi's tone. After an uncomfortable silence Zeus added, "Besides she doesn't know a lot. Like Luna and Artemis her memory of Silver Millenium is full of gaps. When we first came here Ami spent hours interrogating her. She didn't get a hell of a lot. Of course she was mainly looking for info on magic weapons and so on. Anything we could use to kill youma ..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered she was talking to a youma. Margrave decided a quick change of subject was in order.

"Those markers you have, they aren't just so you won't bump your nose on a force shield?"

"No. Cross that line and you're in space ... or whatever. There's nothing to breathe over that and I can tell you that for a fact!"

"Oh?" It seemed Sailor Zeus was also looking for a way to kill time. Even if it meant talking to a youma.

"Yeah. Shortly after we got here I went exploring. To tell the truth I'd got bored watching Ami talking to Serenity so I decided to have a look round at our new home." Zeus shivered as she remembered her brush with death. "One moment I'm warm and taking the air for granted. Next I'm freezing to death and gasping ... I didn't know what had happened and I panicked. Lucky I tried to yell or I'd have whataycallit ..."

"Explosively decompressed?"

"Yeah! That's what Ami said. When she described it I got sick. Anyway the real lucky break was Ami saw me staggering around out there and figured it out right away." Zeus stopped to glare at Margrave, "You all think she's just some kind of cold blooded bitch ... well maybe she is sometimes but I owe her my life more times than I can count. She came after me soon as she saw me, grabbed me and got both of us back over the line. I was a mess for a while but I healed. I asked her afterwards how she'd known she could get back in if she left here. All she'd say was, 'I didn't' then never talked about it again." Makoto was still looking her way but Margrave realized the senshi's gaze was fixed firmly on the past. She could have left it at that and slunk away but decided to see if the senshi offered any more diversion.

"So there's no shield, just a dome of air that cuts off over there."

The question jolted Zeus out of her reverie. "Hmmm ... uh yeah." Something occurred to Margrave and she swore in youma'shak.

"Which means no protection from micrometeorites ... or anything larger. Terrific." She half expected the senshi to took look blank but Makoto surprised her.

"Nope." At her quizzical look Zeus continued, "A couple of months back something punched a hole through one of our watercans. I though someone was shooting at us and ran around like a maniac looking for targets. Ami managed to calm me down and explain that with no atmosphere above the moon small rocks keep hitting the surface. We'd just been unlucky to have one hit near us.

"Ah! Errr ... you didn't try to do anything about this?"

"Not much we can do. We used some marble slabs to shelter our bedrolls which'll maybe stop the smaller stuff but there's no way to cover the whole area. Ami was talking about trying to blast an underground shelter but was afraid of disrupting the spell that maintains the air or overloading it by filling the air with dust. So we just have to live by the theory that it's a big moon and we're a small target so hopefully we'll be all right."

"Thank you, that's a great comfort." Even Usagi wouldn't have been able to miss that much sarcasm.

"Hey, you're just visiting. We live up here! It's not much but it's all we've got." After a pause she added, "It's the only secure place in the world ... well you know what I mean. It's the only place we've got we don't have to worry about the youma finding us and we should be really grateful for that. But I can't help wishing she'd included working plumbing in the spell. We have to bring everything with us and we've got mass limits. Add to that Ami doesn't like to do many jumps and all we've got is enough water to drink. It can get pretty ripe up here sometimes."

"I noticed." The catwoman tapped her nose, "There are times having an exceptional sense of smell is a real pain. But there's not much lingering odour. Whatever renews the air must purify it as well."

"I'll take your word for that." Makoto gave a hollow laugh, "First time I've taken a youma's word for anything. Hell, this is the first time I've actually talked to a youma, period. Interrogated yeah ... though Ami usually handles that ... " She looked at the catwoman but she didn't comment. "I'm talking to a youma instead of trying to kill it ... her. Or vice versa. That's gotta be the last thing I expected."

Margrave shrugged trying not to show any edginess at Zeus's casual mention of youmacide. "Life is full of surprises. I'm amazed there's a senshi standing next to me who's not trying to kill me. I'd sorta come to expect that."

"You've fought senshi before and survived?"

"You must be joking, I wouldn't last a minute. Not that I'd stop to think that if I was enraged but ... (better not get sidetracked, don't want her getting nervous) when I ran into Neptune and Uranus they were going to kill me for the high crime of being a youma. Lucky Azurite decided protecting me was a matter of honour or I'd be dust in the wind."

Zeus glanced over to the blue haired woman. "She took them on and won?"

"Not exactly. More like they decided it wasn't worth picking a fight as we weren't whoever they were after. Besides youma were supposed to be the inner senshi's worry."

"If they're equivalent to our Poseidon and Heaven then they changed their minds."

"Yeah, but we lost." Margrave glanced upwards, "Guess a successful invasion is another matter."

"Yeah ..." Zeus seemed lost in thought and Margrave had decided to see if she could needle Azurite when the senshi asked, "I saw those two only for a few minutes and I don't really know anything about them. What do you know about them?"

"Well Ti's the expert on senshi ..." Margrave looked over to see Ti sporting a sheepish grin and holding yet another hammer. "... but as she's occupied I might as well tell you the little I know. It all started ..." Soon Margrave was deep into a very biased and embellished version of her evening with Azurite while Zeus seemed enthralled. Cal and Ti continued shaping practice while Hermes and Azurite kept trying to follow Pyrite's cryptic pronouncements. No one was watching the sky but that didn't matter. It was still too early to see anything.

Several hours later Princess Titanite was feeling bored as she returned to the throne room. When it had become obvious that the senshi wouldn't be awakening anytime soon and Pyrite would be a long time studying her crystal she'd gone looking for diversion. After seeing that her rooms within the Citadel were in order (and terrifying her assigned servants) she'd left Shadow there and checked in on her domain. She'd been rather hoping that something was wrong, some human rebellion or youma betrayal that would give her a change to crush it ruthlessly. Something that would let her work off the anger at her counterpart's wrecking her palace and making a fool of her. Somewhat unfortunately all was quiet. Normally that was just what she wanted to hear. But not today. However every provincial administrator reported all was well. Most seemed unaware of the problems at the Palace. None knew about the replicas or how they'd gained entrance to the Palace. Azurite's damage control had been very effective. She'd called her Seneschal and been assured repairs were well underway and expected to be completed by week's end.

Under normal circumstances she'd have teleported back whenever she felt like it to see repairs were being done to her satisfaction. Which would have slowed things down but the amusement value of the fear she'd induce would be worth it. After all she could always punish the serfs for tardiness and use them as examples to their replacements. Her brother kept telling told her not to overdo it but she felt the odd act of random cruelty kept her servants on their toes. Besides capriciousness evil was the prerogative of dark queens and princesses.

But these weren't normal circumstances. Until this mess was cleaned up and the other Titanite located her brother wanted her staying within the Citadel. She could see the sense of it but it irked her. Just like the old days when he'd kept her confined because she'd been such a pathetic wimp. Abyss, she'd been an embarrassment back then! How he'd put up with her for so long she'd never know. Thankfully he'd seen some virtue in her and brought it out. Though it still seemed odd that he sometimes seemed troubled by that. Maybe she'd understand when she was a bit older.

Speaking of her brother she considered dropping in on him but decided not to bother him. Right now he was busy reigning and didn't need interruptions. She suspected he did a lot more to keep her domain running smoothly than she thought. At any rate he was busy reviewing reports, meeting advisers, checking on some long-term projects and (most importantly) looking for patterns that indicated underlings thinking of rebellion. There was no loyalty to be found outside the Circle. Something none of them could ever afford to forget.

She'd killed some time by contacting Azurite hoping to get some vicarious enjoyment out of the siege of Buenos Aires enclave. Unfortunately it was already long over and Azurite hadn't been too keen to describe the mopping up. Azurite talked quite a bit about necessity, how they needed brutal retaliation to keep the humans in their places. As always Titanite found this puzzling. Why did the others feel the need to justify themselves? They ruled and might made right. There was nothing they couldn't do if it pleased them. Okay nothing as long as it didn't mess up the Circle's agenda. But the attitude still puzzled her. Well no doubt she'd figure it out someday.

Now, having watched the video of the massacre several times until it was no longer entertaining she was returning to the throne room. Maybe Pyrite was done with her gem. Or perhaps the senshi had awakened, that could be amusing.

She ignored the guards' bows and stepped through the doors as soon as they'd opened widely enough. Behind her the doors reversed course as she gaped at the room. Before there had been enough room for ballroom dancing. Now the place was a maze of obelisks, stacks of computer equipment, crystals from marble sized to metres in height, piles of grimoires and enchanted tools and piles of clutter she couldn't identify. Pyrite had been making himself at home and seemed to have imported half his lab. He looked away from the two ginzuishou which hung in the air before him long enough to acknowledge her then returned to his studies. Titanite sighed, she had the funny feeling it would be a while before she got her gem back. Well, at least it was easy to tell which was which. The new Sailor Moon's was the dull, lifeless one while hers showed it's familiar vibrancy. And speaking of Sailor Moon from the corner of her eye she thought she'd seen ... The girl moaned softly and stirred. Titanite congratulated herself on excellent timing and settled back to watch.

"Mamo-chan ..." Vaguely aware (and disappointed) that she was dreaming Usagi began to drift back to wakefulness. She felt cold, had Chibi-Usa pulled all the covers off again? The little brat! No way that kid was her daughter ... something was wrong. She didn't feel like she was lying down. It was almost as though she was standing up. Had she fallen asleep while leaning against something? There was an ache in her arms which she now realized were raised above her head. Suddenly waking up seemed a worse idea than usual but the veil of sleep was fading so she had little choice. Sure she'd regret it Usagi opened her eyes.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Both youma covered their ears at the wail. It seemed Usagi Tsukino wasn't a morning person. There had been a report she had used a sonic weapon focusing her howls during her initial appearance but that had been discounted as it was never repeated. It seemed there could be some basis in fact. Even unamplified it was deafening. The decibels suddenly ceased as Usagi realized her hands weren't gone. She could still feel them. They were embedded in the twin outcroppings that rose from the otherwise smooth surface of the column. Looking down she realised two things; her feet also vanished into stone which flowed from the pillar to engulf them and she was no longer Sailor Moon. What had happened? Everything was blurred. She remembered changing back without willing it then a black shape that attacked her. She futilely pulled at the stone bonds while her gaze darted around the room. Then gasped and shouted.

"REI-CHAN! MAKO-CHAN! AMI-CHAN!" None of then did more than breathe and she called them again. Still no-one stirred, let alone answered her. Suddenly she realized there was an empty pillar and someone was missing. "MINA-CHAN! WHERE ARE YOU!"

"She's safe enough for the moment. Of course that won't last very long." She knew that voice. Suddenly things began to flood back. With relief she called, "Ti-chan! Quick you'd better get us free before ..." She trailed of as she realized Titanite wasn't wearing her Sailor Polaris costume. She also looked very nonplussed.

"Ti-chan?" At first her voice was filled with disbelief but that quickly gave way to anger. "You called me Ti-chan? I am Princess Titanite! Ruler of Asia! Second of the Dark Circle! Sister to the Overlord Himself. My name is synonymous with terror and torment! I am justly feared by both human and youma! I am young in years but old in hate. I am your worst nightmare, human! AND YOU DARE CALL ME TI-CHAN!?"

The girl looked surprised and startled at her vehemence but not fearful. More puzzled than scared. Off to the side she saw Pyrite applaud her silently then resume talking into a communicator.

"So ... you're the evil one then?"

She sounded confused. Titanite sneered and snarled, "Evil is what the vanquished call the victors! It's a word the weak use to describe the strong so they can ignore their inadequacies."

"Then ... you're not the evil one after all?"

For the first time in her life Princess Titanite sweatdropped. "OF COURSE I'M EVIL YOU CHEESEHEAD!" This had beaten Queen Beryl in the other world? She'd thought their Beryl was incompetent but her other dimensional counterpart must have been a joke. She shook her head.

"It would appear our guest has little interest in philosophy." Titanite started at her brother's voice behind her. As always he'd appeared without her sensing it. Okay, now she knew who Pyrite had been speaking to. As if the thought had summoned him Pyrite joined his cousins. Usagi saw the black aura that flickered around scarred Calcite and gulped. This was definitely the guy they'd told all the scary stories about.

As if Usagi wasn't even there Calcite asked, "You've confirmed your theory?" Pyrite nodded.

"Yes, as I speculated an artifact capable of reshaping reality must be rooted to that reality in some fundamental fashion. So once it was removed from it's home universe ..." Titanite rolled her eyes.

"If this is going to get technical then I'll take a walk. Give me a call when Ares ... Mars wakes up." With that she turned and strolled out as the two kept talking. Usagi realized she was being ignored and (after checking the other senshi were still unconscious) tried to break in on the conversation. At last they deigned to notice her.

"HEY!"

Calcite turned to her and said mildly, "It's not polite to interrupt young lady."

"Oh yeah? Well it's really impolite to stick girls to pillars! And pretty etchi to boot!" He smiled faintly.

"In this instance it's merely a matter of immobilizing you and your compatriots while neutralizing your powers. Not that you're a problem in that regard but they'll be unable to use their magics while bound to those power dampeners. But I'm forgetting my duties as host. You had a question?"

Usagi was pretty sure he was laughing at her but she demanded, "Why won't they wake up?" That was when she became aware of a familiar sensation and felt something cold form in the pit of her stomach. Oh no! This never happened to heroines in the comics!

Oblivious the Overlord answered, "Be assured they'll wake up in time. When Shadow blasted them he used a higher power attack than he used on you. Indeed an attack that would stun a senshi would kill a human easily. It appears Shadow's two level attack was not an exact correspondence between human and senshi resistance. The senshi appear to have got the worst of it so it's taking them longer to recover from the nerve shock. But they'll awake before too long. Though they'll probably wish they'd stayed in a coma."

Usagi squirmed, though not from the fear Calcite assumed being sure they'd get out of this mess somehow. She needed a distraction. "Where's Mina-chan"

Calcite smiled. "I had her removed to a special location. One of the great disappointments of my life was failing to settle things with Sailor Aphrodite. It seems fate has given me a second chance."

Pyite frowned, "I thought you didn't believe in fate."

"I don't, it's just a figure of speech. Nothing is predetermined. We make our own destiny and you have to strive for it. No one gets it handed to them."

"Actually ..." Calcite cut Usagi off

"A special case because of Serenity's messing around. Not that it did much good in this world."

"Well maybe ..." She shifted positions as best she could but there wasn't much give. "Uhm ... since I don't have any powers how about letting me down from here?"

He gave a wintery smile, "Now why would I want to do a foolish thing like that?"

"Uhm well I kinda ...." The rest trailed off into an inarticulate mumble.

"You were saying?"

"I ... " the rest was too faint to hear.

"Yes?"

"Igodagotobatrm ..."

"Did you understand that, cousin?"

"Not a word."

"If you have something to say girl say it? If it's a boon or a question it might amuse me to answer it. It probably won't but it's worth a shot."

The human girl was beet red, torn between embarrassment and necessity. Suddenly she blurted, "IVEREALLYGOTTAGOTOTHEBATHROOM!"

The youma took a moment to interpret the jumble, then Lord Pyrite gave a cynical laugh. "Really Miss Tsukino! You're not dealing with Queen Beryl anymore!"

"Huh?"

Calcite chuckled, "What my cousin means is that, contrary to what past experience has taught you, being supreme leader of the youma doesn't require you to lose your ability to think." She still looked blank so Pyrite began his recital.

"Your plan is incredibly obvious. Having deduced from our conversation that while your ginzuishou is useless in this universe your counterpart's remains active you have devised this diversion. When we remove you from the pillar you'll make a break for the table and grab the working silver crystal. Transforming to Sailor Moon you'll use the Moon Tiara Action attack to break your comrades free while simultaneously reviving them with the ginzuishou. Then, while they hold us off, you'll power up into Moon Princess mode and attempt to destroy the Overlord!"

Calcite nodded, "A child could see through that one."

Usagi just twisted uncomfortably then said hesitantly, "Uhm actually I just need to ... you know." They just stared at her. "But it's a really great plan. Can I use it?" There was a prolonged silence. At length Pyrite said, "I think she's serious."

Calcite nodded in disbelief. "I think you're right!" He shook his head. "Just think, our counterparts failed to beat ... this." He sighed then said despondently, "My counterpart must have been braindamaged. How else could he have let these fools destroy the Dark Kingdom? No wonder his sister had to join the senshi to save her own life."

"Hah, shows how much you know. Our Calcite's not evil! He never wanted to rule the Dark Kingdom. And Polaris-chan fights evil on her own, without us." The youma were staring at her again. Calcite gave her a faint smile then said, "That's ... interesting. Tell me more."

"Not until you let me down and tell me where Mina-chan is ..." Calcite's eyes glowed, "...urk!" Calcite frowned and waved a hand before her glassy eyes.

"That was a little like using a hydraulic press to break a walnut."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean she's either got negative psi defences or a mind incapable of working while she's talking. That was way too easy ... it's got to be a trick and she's faking the trance."

"Actually from our old observations it could well be the latter. Why not listen to what she has to say."

"Why not? We've still got some time to kill before lunar impact." He looked into he eyes seeking resistance but saw none. "Now Tsukino-san let's have a word about this other Calcite ..."

Meanwhile on the Moon for lack of anything else to do Sailor Zeus had been telling Margrave her life story. At least the general, public domain information not being inclined to really open up to a youma. Surprisingly the catwoman wasn't bored, she seemed to be listening avidly. What Makoto had realized was how much Margrave was able to read both from the things she didn't say and her pheromones. At least until Margrave suddenly announced, "So this boy was your first and, to date, only lover which is why you're so hung up on him." Thoughtfully she added, "You were a bit on the young side for a human though by youma standards ..."

"SHUTUPSHUTUP!" She glanced around frantically but no one had heard them. Calcite had joined the group around Pyrite while Titanite was sitting in a small pile of hammers trying, without much success, to create a Sailor Polaris doll. Quietly but intensely she continued, "Listen youma! If you repeat that to anyone ...!" The threat was unspecified but clear enough. Margrave shrugged.

"I make it a point of never arguing with a woman who could electrocute me with a gesture." She considered making a few smart remarks but decided not to take the chance. Needling her like that had been too much too resist but given the swath these two had cut through the youma a certain caution was called for. Once again a change of subject might be a good idea. "So ... shall we see what they're up too?" She gestured at the group. "There appears to be some excitement over there." Makoto might have agreed except the silent Serenity image suddenly looked skyward and began to speak without prompting.

A few minutes earlier Pyrite had put down the grimoire he'd been studying and sighed. "Well I have a potential method of attack. But the word longshot doesn't even begin to describe it."

"Let's hear it!" Hermes sounded impatient. Calcite nodded.

"I'd say we're ready to grasp at anything that offers the slightest chance. Who knows, maybe the senshi's incredible luck will rub off on us."

Azurite just rested a hand on his shoulder, she looked utterly confident in him. Sure he could deliver a miracle yet again. His spirits rose and he continued, "I've figured out roughly how the Overlord bound Metallia. At the risk of oversimplifying the lifeforce they used shocked Metallia awake and out of her cocoon too early. Metallia was still in flux state, unable to exist as an independent entity. She needed a host and grabbed for one instinctively. That was the Overlord ... I believe that Metallia should have been too much for any youma save Beryl and maybe the Generals to contain without burning out. The host would probably have undergone spontaneous mutation from containing Metallia and continued changing until it died. So Metallia would have had to keep switching host bodies until she was stable. That armour he was wearing was designed to bleed off the excess power so he could survive while he launched a psychic attack on Metallia. Even so he should have be overwhelmed by her mind but he somehow succeeded. This next part's tricky ... my counterpart seemed to think we have a strong resistance to demonic influence. Possibly it's part of what makes us Renegades. At any rate combined with the berserker factor which can be triggered by psychic invasion it seems to make us potentially capable of winning a psi battle against a demon."

Calcite frowned and glanced over at Titanite. "Us as in any of us?"

Pyrite nodded, "Theoretically. Of course just how powerful the demon is and the willpower of the person involved would also be factors. From Ti's experience she was able to assume temporary control of a powerful entity but unable to direct her berserker mindset. Your counterpart seems to have learned how to remain semi-rational while he's berserking instead of just acting on instinct."

He paused a moment then flipped open another book to some cryptic notes in his handwriting. "There's more. I'm speculating but it looks like they may have summoned possession demons for practice. Letting the demons into their bodies then overwhelming them, crushing their minds and stealing their power. A complete reversal of the normal state of affairs. Of course while they might have overridden the demons and used the mana to fuel boosting their own powers temporarily this may have done long-term damage to their psyches. This could explain why they've become ... what they have."

Azurite shook her head. "I don't buy that. If they were willing to let demons into their bodies they'd already have to be pretty twisted. Besides which I'll bet you're not sure if they all went through the ritual."

"Well, no. I believe Calcite definitely did as practice for the ... uh main event but the others' participation is questionable."

Calcite muttered, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Looks like my counterpart went Nietzschean. At any rate let's get back on track."

"Ah yes, I am veering from the topic. Well with the armour keeping him alive your counterpart imprisoned Metallia within his mind. Using her as his link he gained access to the power of the Abyss. I'd guess he set up some sort of telepathic wards though how he did that and how he maintains them I don't know. Possibly he's somehow shocked Metallia back into her healing dream state so she thinks she's still asleep within her coccoon and it's all an illusion. So she's not truly aware of being bound as it's only a dream. At any rate that's how he channels power from the Abyss. This does however give us a possible avenue of attack."

"I'm waiting." Hermes sounded impatient and cold as ever. Yet was there just a hint of hope in her voice?

"Physical assault is useless however psychic attack is another matter. How much of the Overlord's attention is devoted to maintaining the wards I don't know. But I can throw something together that'll create mental static or psychic white noise. Call it what you will. Hopefully that will break his wards and release Metallia from his control."

Calcite was the first to say it. "That's not necessarily a good idea."

Pyrite nodded. "It's a definite mixed blessing. Best case scenario is Metallia is still at the stage where she can't survive without a host. If we can keep her from acquiring one in the flux period she'll break up and our problems are over. At least as regards her."

Hermes narrowed her eyes. "And if she emerges able to exist independently?"

"Then we have a problem. We'll have to hope she's disorientated long enough for us to either acquire Sailor Moon and your world's ginzuishou or to improvise something."

"Like what?"

"I've no idea. That's why they call it improvising."

Hermes didn't seem amused but Azurite raised the next objection.

"He's got to have psi defences like Cal right?"

"I'd be very surprised if he didn't. So yes, we'll need to get the mind bomb close to him for it too work."

Calcite had a nasty feeling he already knew the answer as he asked, "How close exactly?"

"Uhhh ... very!"

"As in right in his face?"

"Ahh ...well ...yeah. That's about the only way it could work."

Hermes shook her head then snarled, "Are you out of your mind? Even if we could get that close the odds of any of staying alive long enough to hit him with this thing are ridiculous!"

Calcite broke in, "Actually getting to him is still possible. Until they get their security upgraded we've got a window we can use." He looked to Pyrite, "But that wasn't the drawback you were thinking about was it?"

"I'm afraid not." Pyrite sighed, "The problem is that this is such an obvious vulnerability that my counterpart must have anticipated it. And if he didn't I'll bet yours did. Lord Pyrite knows a lot more about demon binding than I do so I'm afraid he's got failsafes I haven't considered."

"Except that this isn't a matter of binding a demon to an artifact but a living host. That may limit what they could do with regards to warding spells." Pyrite nodded at his cousin's speculation.

"It might. Or he may have devised a whole new binding technique based on that fact. What it comes down to is this was a long term plan. They spent years putting this together, ironing out the problems. I'm trying to come up with loopholes in under a day against an opponent who's my intellectual equal and an expert in this field!"

"Is there any alternative?"

"Uhm ... well not yet, no."

"So we'll consider this plan A. You build the psi bomb and we'll work out the delivery method. Then we can worry about plan B." Calcite managed to sound confident despite his estimation of their chances. It was possible it might work and if you go into battle convinced it's hopeless you've already lost. Even if it failed better to go out trying than cowering until they hunted you down. Hermes didn't know about the other option. He'd already rejected the other alternative.

He'd had a quiet word with Azurite while Pyrite had been working. As he'd expected she'd already thought of the reversal option. While their counterparts might be impossible to replace there would be nothing to stop them taking out a few youma quietly and using glamour to take their place. They'd stay hidden among the youma, undetectable as they'd been in the Dark Kingdom. Just like the bad old days.

Also as he'd expected she'd rejected it almost instantly. Ti would never be able to fit in and be discovered within days. As for them ... in the old days it was easy to be a bastard. Everyone else was rotten to the core and they'd prey on you the first chance they got. Here there was a human race he'd be expected to keep downtrodden and enslaved as the price of fitting in. He couldn't do that nor could she. As Azurite had said, "We're too damn honourable for our own good! Whatever happened to survival as the be all and end all?" With that they'd let it drop except for Azurite's glance at Margrave. Margrave wasn't in the same position. She'd fit right in without a qualm and had made it clear if the opportunity presented itself to become part of the ruling class she'd take it. The only things holding her back were not wanting to return to being a low rank youma treated like dirt by the more powerful. That and the fact the senshi would dust her if they suspected treachery. Maybe that wasn't all. Could she feel any loyalty towards Ti or him? Calcite shook his head, he was fooling himself again. She'd made it clear she stuck with him for protection, material comfort and fun. Anything more was just wishful thinking.

At which point Margrave's voice broke in on his brooding. "Everyone get over here! We've got trouble!" She looked worried, so did Zeus. At their feet the image of the long dead queen stared upwards towards the Earth. Hermes didn't feel much concern for a youma's fears but the expression on her partner's face alarmed her. Makoto didn't scare easy which meant something very bad was happening. Even as she thought this she arrived and demanded, "What's going on."

"Play it again, Serenity!" The image ignored Margrave's order but responded when Zeus said, "Please repeat what you told us."

Obligingly it announced, "There are fifteen powered craft currently approaching the moon. One of which is on a collision course." Hermes muttered a curse as she triggered her visor and looked skyward. Then went pale and gasped. Zeus suddenly felt very scared. If Ami was shocked then, "It's an invasion fleet?"

"No." Ami's voice was a monotone, devoid of emotion. In the same mechanical fashion she announced, "There are fifteen rockets approaching the moon in a wide dispersal pattern. They are currently 1000 km away and closing rapidly. According to my scan they are nuclear missiles, highly modified to function in space. Each is equipped with ten 10 megaton warheads and one is obviously targeted on us. ETA is eight minutes but they can airburst and scour the lunar surface in six."

A moment's silence then Margrave muttered, "You gotta be fucking kidding!" At which point everyone started shouting at once.

"SHUT UP!" Calcite's voice over-rode everyone else's and everyone, even Hermes went quiet. "Azure, Zeus, Hermes grab the supplies. Pyrite, can you blank our teleport signature right now?" Azure snapped into action grabbing the Renegades gear. Hermes looked like she might protest taking Calcite's but her intelligence won out and she tore through the campsite followed by Zeus. Titanite just looked bewildered.

"Yes, but ..."

"Do it. We can't take time for the senshi to link to the network. Destination is the Tokyo teleport point. Ti, you take Margrave. Azure, Zeus. I'll take Hermes. Pyr ..."

"Block your signatures then follow. I'm on it!" Azure started to say something but choked it off. Pyrite had to be last one off the moon or it'd be obvious they escaped.

Her arms full Zeus suddenly looked at Serenity. "Wait a minute! What about ...?"

"Please don't trouble yourself." The image's voice was calm and firm. "I am the last fragment of a woman who died long ago. It is past time for me to rejoin her. I am sorry I could not have been of more aid. There was much I was supposed to tell you but over the ages my memory faded. I did not anticipate how long it would be before the cycle began anew. Had I been as all knowing as was rumoured I would have foreseen Beryl's attack."

Forgetting this was a simulation rather than Serenity herself Makoto blurted, "The fall of Silver Millennium wasn't your fault!"

She nodded. "No more than the second fall was your fault. Remember that child." Makoto might have said more but Azure (having freed one hand) grabbed her arm and shouted, "We're outta here!" A few seconds later Pyrite was the only one left. He spun the blanked jump in his mind taking precious seconds to double check it. There must be no trace of their escape. He used the moments to give a hasty bow to Serenity then vanished. The image made a curtsey in return then looked to the sky and idly wondered when the end would come.

The rockets burst, as they were programmed to do, launching their independent warheads. One's rockets failed to fire, another veered wildly offcourse as the boosters misfired. It didn't matter, the overlapping target zones had been planned for overkill. Contrary to Hermes' fears the warhead did not airburst at long range. They were within 50 metres of the ground when they detonated. Ruins that had lain undisturbed in the vacuum for 12,000 years ceased to exist. The atmosphere bubble the senshi had lived in was consumed instantaneously as was the stones Serenity was part of. Millions of tons of dust was tossed into the Luna night. Some would reach escape velocity and become meteorite. The rest would slowly rain down on the moon for centuries drawn by the weak gravity. Now all that remained where the ruins had been were deep craters gouged in the lunar surface that were rapidly cooling in the vacuum of space. The last visible remnants of Silver Millennium were gone.

In Tokyo Hermes looked up at the pitch black sky where the moon should be and said quietly, "How'd they know?" She wasn't expecting an answer but she got one. She almost started having forgotten Calcite was behind her.

"You're forgetting Dark Kingdom history has the moon as a habitable world. When they started crossing to Earth they must have found that wasn't true anymore and humans believed it had always been lifeless. But they must have wondered, if it was true once couldn't it happen again?"

"So when they couldn't find us on Earth ..."

"They decided to torch the moon just in case. Since those missiles were centred on your base they probably picked up your teleport signature. And used a wide dispersal because they didn't know how big an area was habitable. For all they knew you were assembling an army up there so overkill was the wisest course of action. On the positive side, if they didn't pick up our escape, they think you've both been incinerated."

Hermes nodded, "That is a definite advantage."

"In the meantime we'd better get out of here. We lucked out that they haven't already interdicted this place. But once the senshi talk ..."

"There'll be troops everywhere ... unless the Circle decide to handle this themselves."

He nodded, "We could open the gate and duck back to our world but ..."

"They'll seal the area off and shoot anything that appears. Which means no return to this world and waiting for them to break through the gate and invade your world."

"So we're stuck with this world. So as the local expert you'd better find us a temporary bolthole."

Hermes gave a tight grin, "Already done. I'm not an amateur!"

"Since all our lives are riding on it I should hope not. Okay everyone we're on our way!"

Although they'd never knew it, it was another narrow escape. Fifteen minutes after they departed the disruption field appeared.

Backtracking a few minutes found Arimanus calling the Citadel. The satellite video confirmed the news. His lordship would be pleased. She was a little surprised it took Pyrite so long to respond. When he did answer he looked distracted. She forbode to ask what was wrong and told him, "Lord you asked to be informed of this as soon as we had confirmation. The Lunar strike was an almost total success. There were two malfunctions but we still managed 97% destruction of the target area. Estimated irradiated zone ... uncertain. We have no evidence of large scale concealed atmospheric regions so the fallout patterns are uncertain. However it'll be a few centuries before the strike zones will be habitable. Best of all we scanned right up to detonation and there's no evidence of anyone departing. So the senshi have just become history."

"Hmmm ... Oh yes that's good ..." He looked very distracted. "Get the pertinent data together and forward it to me here. I'll be staying at the Citadel a little longer than anticipated. Pyrite out." The screen blanked and Arimanus was left to wonder just what in the Abyss was going on.

Pyrite turned back to the Overlord to find him still staring at Usagi in disbelief. "You heard?" He nodded.

"Finally some good news ..." He shook his head and looked back at the entranced Usagi. "If she's telling the truth ..."

"She believes what she's said. It's possible the memories have been implanted but Occam's razor ..." The Overlord nodded.

"Not just Titanite but all of us ... The implications of this are a nightmare." Pyrite had been thinking the same thing.

"Everything's potentially compromised. If this other Azurite shows up at ours' headquarters she can order strike teams to take out traitors and they'll obey without question. Abyss! Any of them could trigger a civil war by passing as Dark Circle and rebelling!"

Calcite had been reminded of something by Arimanus's call. "Shit! The remaining nuclear stockpile! Who has access to the vault?"

"Just the two of us ... Oh no!" His cousin nodded, his face grim.

"We're establishing security codes as of now on them. Even if it's one of us no-one gets in. Establish a password! Think up something obscure and order it implemented!" Calcite's mind raced ahead. "We'll bring Azurite in immediately, better get Magnesite over here just in case. For the time being the Circle will govern from the Citadel through deputies until we have settled this!" What next? "If our counterparts are still on the other side then things aren't as urgent as long as they can't cross over. Or leave Tokyo alive if they do! We'll fill Tokyo with troops and ..." Suddenly he trailed off. Pyrite said it out loud.

"Calcite, we can't send in troops with orders to shoot us on sight!"

He sighed, "I know. I'm being too hasty." He fell silent for a few moments then continued. "The gatepoint is somewhere in Tokyo but she's not sure exactly where. So I'll flood the area with a cellular disruption field. Anyone who materializes in that will cease to be a problem very quickly. After that ... if they aren't here we'll have to go get them." He glanced over at the two ginzuishous and shook his head.

"Cousin, my powersource is the Abyss of this universe. If I cross over would I link to the Abyss of the other world as these senshi have linked to their counterparts sources. Or would I be like Sailor Moon and lose my powers?"

Pyrite pondered the question then threw up his hands. "I have no idea. There's no way to tell without long term experimentation or crossing over. But the risk of losing control ... You can't go! Besides you shouldn't have to handle this personally."

"You're right." Calcite nodded then, after a moment's hesitation said, "Azurite's the best choice to lead the Killteam." Pyrite tensed minutely. "Don't worry, she won't be going empty-handed. We'll give her our new ginzuishou. It'll function just fine on the other side and with that boosting her powers she'll be able to handle anything. For backup ... tough yet expendable troops so they can't talk about who they went hunting."

"How about the Six? With the senshi gone they're now irrelevant."

"That's a start. We'll let Azurite organize the team since she'll be the one leading it." Calcite felt the worry fading. This was more of an inconvenience than a disaster. Even if their counterparts did trigger a civil war he'd be able to crush it. As long as he controlled Metallia's power he was untouchable. "How long before you can open the gate?"

Pyrite looked hesitant, "I ... I've no idea. It could take weeks ... maybe months."

"Months?"

"Calcite, interdimensional travel isn't my field. My counterpart and I seem to have sharply diverged when it comes to research. It seems the senshi have no idea how uhhh ... Polaris opened the gate so there's no good looking for hints from them. I'll have to learn a whole new set of principles from scratch. The only pluses are I know it's possible and roughly where the gate is located."

The Overlord sighed, "You're right. I'm being unrealistic. Just do the best you can."

"I always do. But something just occurred to me. Titanite's counterpart has a 'key' to the gateway. If we can find her and obtain that ..." "... We have a shortcut. Unfortunately if you remember she escaped with the senshi. So if she was still travelling with them ..."

"... Polaris and her key are dust on the Moon." He sighed, "Ah well. Back to square one."

"That's life. Now let's get our safeguards in place then worry about dealing with this problem." Calcite turned his mind inward, reaching across the world psychically to the first city he'd destroyed. As he did he wondered how his counterpart had diverged so radically. Why had he chosen running over ruling? It was very disturbing, according to Pyrite's theory the other was him! Which meant not only might he have chosen the same but that in the other world that was the path he had chosen. Why?

Perhaps he'd never know. What mattered was the appearance of this other Titanite showed their counterparts were a threat to the Dark Circle. They had to be dealt with as swiftly as possible. Even as he thought this he wondered if he'd be capable of destroying an alternate version of his sister? Even if she was dressed as a senshi.

Unnoticed in the recent revelations the real senshi had begun to stir. It would soon be a full house.
"In defeat malice, in victory revenge!" supposedly the British PM's motto stolen from "Yes Minister" by Jonathan Lynn & Antony Jay.