Tokyo - The Present

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"I want to see your face for this."

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

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

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

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

"That's right."

"That's cheating!"

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

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

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

"You did?"

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

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

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

"A baseball?"

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

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

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

"WAIT!"

"Yes?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Which makes us the only sensible ones."

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

"Afraid so."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ti what happened?!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hopefully."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You're kidding?"

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

"And you play ...?"

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

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

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

"Nothing to do with your wardrobe?"

"Well it certainly doesn't hurt."

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

"Sounds good."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"No way to determine anything more?"

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

"What?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Is that a promise?"

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

"I didn't mean it that way."

"If you say so."

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

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

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

"I believe you. Ready to launch?"

"Yes."

"Make it so."

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

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

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

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

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

"Just what are you saying?"

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

"Weak spot?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Great."

"Sorry."

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

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

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

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

"Closed?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Afraid so."

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

"Anytime."

"Will it last another six hours?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Absolutely. Low profile all the way."

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

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

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

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

"Will do."

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

"Yes?"

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

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

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

MegaTokyo - October 2033 AD

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah ride you'll never forget."

"Not for the rest of your life."

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

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

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

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

"Janet?"

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

"Kind of short? Red hair?"

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

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

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

"Last what?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Not tonight Daley, I have a headache."

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

The detective in charge headed for them.

"Hi Carol."

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

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

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

"So what have we got?"

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

"ID the weapon yet?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Any trace of anything useful?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Just fax it to us."

"Can't win 'em all."

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

"Dream on Leon."

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

Tokyo - The Present

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

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

"They're just a myth Meiko!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What did you say Ti-chan?"

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

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

"How so?"

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

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

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

"Interfaces? How's that possible?"

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

"Then how ...?"

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

"So now what?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Check the date."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Like our friends from this morning?"

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

"Big Ugly Mother of an Android?"

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

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

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

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

"Possibly."

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

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

"Saves me asking you."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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