Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC, and I would be a supreme idiot for claiming it or any of its affiliated characters.

Foreword: On Timelines: This story is set directly after the Doomtree story arc, but takes place in the alternate universe of "Assassin's Loyalty", and as a sequel to it. As you might have guessed, this leads to certain… differences in this universe, as you get to see right off the bat.

On Names and Postfixes: In this story I use the Japanese names in the Japanese manner. Thus George Bush would be Bush George, and Usagi Tsukino would be Tsukino Usagi. Also, the postfixes -chan, -san, -dono and others appear attached to names. Don't worry if you don't know what they mean. I use them simply for flavor, and like any flavor can be left out without altering the reading (or edibility) too much.

Warning: This chapter gets into several adult situations. You have been warned.

Begin = 20030221; 1Draft = 20030306;

Chapter Four: Choosing Sides

As I walk away from them, I can almost guess what they are talking about. "She doesn't want to be a Senshi?!" Blah, blah, blah.

I never signed up to be a Senshi. All I ever expected out of life was to live in comfort off my skills as an Assassin.

Or then again, maybe giving them my name confused them. That would be good. It would perhaps keep them off my back about reconsidering the position, especially if they think I've already taken it up.

Damn. I wish that I had cast that spell right. Minako was probably still just a bit in shock or else she wouldn't have acted so calmly.

Minako? Don't I mean Aino-san? Err, Aino. Double damn. I'm starting to think like one of them now.

Compounded to the fact I have yet to get a single job here yet, the one that I'm leaving behind me could have at least gained me some information. On the other hand, it's probably a good thing that I haven't gotten an assignment yet, for the majority of my weapons have yet to arrive. All I have are the ones on me, my primary and secondary personal sets. Not nearly sufficient for anything but close work.

Like the thug that's sneaking up behind me. Gods above, you'd think that stealth would be an intensive part of their training, right? This guy's not even showing signs of slowing up, and its not even sundown.

The idiots that I have to get rid of.

I duck into an alleyway that's a shortcut to my apartment, knowing that the thug will try to corner me in there.

But as I turn the corner I start to curse my exhausted magic. The thug has a friend.

I duck under the second mugger's outstretched arm and roll. The two of them are now between me and the main street, but now I have the option of running down the side street if need be.

"Come on, girly, lets not have any funny stuff." The first gestures impatiently. The second now stands behind him, brandishing a particularly nasty-looking knife.

"And what, pray tell, did you want from me?" I use the more formal mode of speech, wondering if the idiot could even understand me.

The two of them just leer at me and I get the feeling they weren't particularly interested in any money I might have. At least, not at first. Oh, well. There'll be two less ignorant fools tomorrow.

I reach down to the side seam of my pants, not making any threatening motions. The first thug moves around to my side, and makes a grab for my lowered arm.

He's only able to scream for one and a half seconds before he's drowning in his own blood. Before his companion can register that his friend has lost a hand and gained a new a slit across his throat, I've advanced and am striking out at him. He manages to block my first strike clumsily with his knife, but on the second pass I snap open what merely appeared to be a long dagger.

Catching his blade between the sharp slats of my fan, I toss it away and snap the fan shut again, right before driving it halfway into his skull via his eye socket.

He dies without even a whimper.

"Can we really trust her?"

"No. After all, she never answered the Princess' question."

"Hmm?"

"She told us about how she knew who we were, but she never said what she had done to Minako, or what she had actually wanted to do in the first place."

"Should we keep a look out for her, then?"

"Whenever we can find an opportunity to. Next time I see my dad, I'll tell him."

"You would have done that anyway."

"Well, yeah, I would have."

"What about the next enemy we fight? Will she be able to help us then, do you think?"

"I don't really know the future. That's Pluto's job, after all. All we can do is wait."

"For now though… just hold me."

"Of course."

"Ten'ou."

Tenmura turned halfway around on the bench and looked at the girl behind him. "Greetings, Mercury."

The girl's face did not change as she sat beside him, but her voice had become much colder. "Do not call me by my name in public. Use the one I told you."

Tenmura nodded. That fit the picture he was building of the Assassin. "What did you need me for, Mizuno?" Getting a summons from his daughter had been surprising to say the least. Until Haruka had explained, anyway.

Mizuno looked at him oddly. "Haruka said that you needed to talk to me as well."

He nodded. "It can wait. You wanted to see me first."

She could tell that he was nervous about something, but if he was going to tell her anyway, why tax her still recovering reserves? "Can you pick up a package for me? It's the majority of my weapons, so it's taken awhile to get here."

Tenmura nodded again, slowly. "That may actually take precedence over what… Er…"

"Spit it out, Ten'ou."

He looked at her askance. "The reason I haven't been able to pass along any offers is, er, the bosses want a demo."

Tenmura shivered as the surrounding temperature literally dropped several degrees.

"They… want… what?"

"They want to know if you're good enough to do their work instead of the people they use now."

Tenmura looked into the eyes of the girl that sat far too close for comfort. Especially now that the temperature around her was still falling.

"Name."

He started. "Huh?"

Mizuno… No— Mercury looked straight at him with her icy eyes and asked, "Give me the name of one of those 'Bosses'."

He told her a name that he knew belonged to one of his contacts on the Council that the gangs had made. The girl stood again, and slowly regained the composure that had deserted her. "Dockside, off Ribbon Street, two nights from now at 0233. It'll be a large steamer trunk. Don't try to move it until I get there."

Tenmura frowned, "Not to be rude, but why can't you get it yourself then?"

"Because I'll be covering your back."

Haruka calmly walked over to the tree, sat down, and began to eat lunch. After a while, she quietly passed two objects to the person sitting next to her.

"I said I didn't want that."

"Take it anyway, will you?" Haruka sighed. "None of the rest of us have a use for it when we have our own, and you can leave it off if you want."

"And the other?"

The other was a flat metallic notebook at first glance. Further inspection showed that the notebook was solid, and had no discernable "This way up" feature.

"What is it?"

"Luna said it was a computer, but no one's been able to even activate it."

"So why give it to me?"

"It's got to belong to somebody."

Holding the computer up to the light, its new owner tilted it back and forth, as if looking for something. "Ah, it does belong to me."

"What?"

The computer was tilted towards Haruka, and in the middle of one of the large faces she saw the symbol of Mercury reflected in the light. "Huh, so it does."

The two continued to eat in silence.

The man stood in the rain, a damp but still smoldering cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth. A small marina lay off to one side, and a sign further down declared "RIBBON" in rusting letters.

The sound of the motorboat was drowned out until it was almost up to the pier of the marina. The man slowly walked down to the marina and up the dock as other men carefully lifted a large trunk onto the pier.

One of them, with a peculiar eye patch, separated and came up to the man who had been waiting. "You don't look like what we were expecting."

"I jus' do what 'm told."

Eyepatch grunted a laugh. "You just keep doing that." He turned and walked back to the boat where the rest of the men were waiting.

Tenmura waited until the boat had disappeared into the rain before approaching the trunk. Mindful of what Mercury had told him, he did not touch it, but stood close enough to it that if anyone passed by, they would know it was his.

As he snuffed out the cigarette and lit another, he thought he heard a slight "click" come from the trunk. When he moved a step closer to see if it made the noise again, he saw that the lid was now slightly open.

"Oh, sh—"

"AH! OH!"

"Like that?"

"Do that again!"

"As you will, my La~dy!"

"Hey! No fair!"

"Nuh-huh! Do you want me to do it again or not?"

*beep*beep*beep*

"That doesn't sound like before…"

"Idiot! It's the communicator!"

"Hello? Who— Mercury?!"

*Uranus. Get down to the industrial district. Look for a street named "Ribbon", and hurry. Your father's life depends on it.*

"Wha—? What happened?!"

*Frostbite, maybe a few toes, if you hurry. Are you coming?*

"What did you do to him?"

*Would you rather he was fried to a crisp? Now, Uranus!*

Neptune shivered at the cold in the air, looking for signs of anything out of the ordinary. Uranus was slightly ahead of her, seemingly knowing where they were going.

"There!"

Off to the side she saw a sign showing the same name Mercury had told them. The two of them ran down the street, heedless of anyone watching. When they reached the end, however, they found nothing but the open waters of the bay.

"Where are they?"

"Here."

They were both startled as Mercury appeared before them out of thin air. Neptune tried to calm her breathing and ask about Ten'ou, but Uranus was again ahead of her.

"Where's Dad?"

Mercury waved behind her. Neptune gasped as a pier suddenly appeared. Near the middle were a small fire and several jagged chunks of ice.

"Quickly."

The two Senshi followed the girl down the pier. When they reached the first block of ice, Uranus was immediately beside it.

"Dad!" She raised a fist to break him out.

"DON'T!"

Mercury caught the soldier's hand before it could be dropped. "Do that and you'll shatter him into as many pieces as the ice. Let me." She placed her hands on the Ten'ou icicle and took a deep breath.

"Winter's gentle ending."

The ice around Tenmura gradually softened and turned to water, running downwards to the ocean. The other chunks of ice near also melted, but not as quickly.

"Take him."

Uranus and Neptune gently lifted the elder Ten'ou as he took a few gasps of air. "Wha— Where am I?"

"Dad, its okay. We're here."

"As you will, angel."

"Take him home. He wasn't in long enough for anything permanent. Get him a hot bath and put him to bed."

"What about you?" asked Neptune.

"I have things I need to recover." The shorter girl turned and walked to where the biggest piece of ice was revealing a large box of some kind.

"You doing all right, dad?"

"Yeah… just tired."

"Right." Pause. "Can I ask what happened?"

"I think someone was trying to kill her, but got me instead."

"And she saved you by nearly freezing you to death."

"No… I think it was something like cryogenic sleep like they have in movies… I don't remember anything from the time I saw the explosion in front of me, to the time you were holding me up."

"Oh… Okay. I've got a lot of questions for her, though."

"You and me both."

The funny thing is, that when all is said and done, I really needed only a few things from that trunk. The rest of it I can either purchase or make here.

Provided I get a better place to live, that is.

Also provided that I can supply the idiots that don't want to give me contracts with a reason to give me those contracts.

One of those idiots is just over a kilometer away from me right now. And, wonder of wonders, is standing right next to a refueling tanker truck. Does that spell "death wish" or what?

Ichigiro Imanu walked cautiously up to his boss. Ever since an "accident" that wiped out most of his family, he'd avoided things that go boom. His boss was currently standing very near something that could go boom very loudly if something went wrong.

"Ichigiro. What's the report on the Assassin?"

"Er, we haven't gotten much out of Ten'ou, just that he was forced to reveal a few names of the council. Yours was one of them."

"Hah. And I bet you think that the Assassin will try to prove that he can do what we want by killing us off? Why do you think I'm here at this minor filling station, when I could be off doing things that actually garner a profit?"

"Because you're daring him?"

"Damn straight. I'm going to prove to those whining morons that this newbie Assassin is nothing compared to what we have in our arsenal now."

"As you will, sir."

I once said that Black trained me in everything from "Warfans to high-magnification sniper rifles". The warfans I have had with me all the time — well, excepting school, of course. The sniper rifle I didn't get my hands back on until last night.

There's a funny thing happening in the world, or at least my particular portion of it. Here I am at the extreme end of my gun's range, and I have a perfect view of a certain refueling station.

Life just sometimes gives you the best situation instead of the worst.

I handle the rifle carefully, even though I've checked it over for problems and Q/A'ed to a witherall. But if I hadn't, and if I'm still not cautious, Murphy will get the last laugh.

Sliding the bolt back, I reach down to a pouch on my belt and draw out a bullet. There is a short black line from the tip to the beginning of the casing, showing that it is a solid — zero payload.

Placing it in the gun and closing the bolt, I fit my eye to the scope and gradually turn up the mag. There is quite literally nothing like a slow zoom onto the face of an unsuspecting target.

I grin slightly as I read his lips. Newbie, eh?

Ichigiro choked and fell back as his boss's head literally exploded in a fountain of red.

"WHAAA!!"

"Really, you don't need to fuss, I feel perfectly fine!"

Haruka looked crossly at her father, who was currently festooned in blankets and comforters on the family room couch. "Dad, last night you were frozen in an ice cube. Today you're running a temperature. I'm waiting for the next catastrophe as we speak."

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad!"

*beep*beep*beep*

Haruka looked pointedly at her father. "You were saying?" As Tenmura covered his brow dramatically, she answered the communicator. "Hello? Mercury!"

*I need you to tell you father something.*

"How did you know that…? Never mind…"

*Smart girl.*

With a sigh, Haruka gave the small device to her father, who gingerly accepted it. "Yes?"

*Ten'ou, are you all right?*

"I have a bit of a fever…"

*Right. How soon can you report to that "Council"?*

"I can get in touch within an hour."

*Don't strain yourself. Tell them to stand on the northeast corner of the Meiji building, and to look due east.*

"What are they looking for?"

*A brass shell.*

He hesitated. "I take it there's one less name?"

*Right. Anything else?*

"Would you mind coming over for a bit?"

*What? Why?*

"Call it getting to know you. And you us."

*Right… Mercury out.*

Tenmura gave the communicator back to his daughter and hunkered down in the pile of blankets.

"Aren't you going to…?"

"Let 'em wait."

It doesn't look like much.

It's only twenty-eight centimeters by twenty-one and a half centimeters by one and a half centimeters. It's blue. It has a symbol that only shows when hit just right by natural light.

All right, maybe that last one isn't too normal. It's supposed to be a computer, but I have yet to find any evidence of it being anything more than a solid block. I will not use my magic on this thing. I will not cheat and get the information easily and quickly.

Screw that. I'm going to prime a Q/A.

"How is this operated?"

Information flows into my mind, assimilating data and skills in seconds. It is not the usual way this happens…

It's more like I'm… remembering…

A simple touch and the computer unfolds, a half centimeter on top splitting down the middle and sliding to the sides, doubling the length of the board. Once the outer sections are locked into place, two spokes fold up from where the edges used to be, linked by a thin thread. This empty rectangle lights up and displays strange characters. The flat board, too, lights up and displays similar characters.

Looking at the characters, something in the back of my mind turns over, and I see…

Fighting practice. Blonde and Brunette going hand-to-hand, Brunette flips Blonde onto her back, wrenching her shoulder in the process. "SHIN!"

Sword flashes out, guts the dark creature, and trails back slimy ichor. "Fia Nerrantor!" and the blast disintegrates the wounded creature.

A girl standing on a cliff above a sea. Arms outstretched, she strains and gestures. From the water below comes a leviathan, and the girl calmly steps onto its head, and they speed out to sea.

Flames lick at her feet as she takes a running jump into the pool below, landing with a splash and sending spurts of molten metal in all directions.

I kneel before the radiant throne, knowing that she will not be pleased with my intentions, but I have no choice but to do what my heart says is right. The five young ones stand off to the side; I don't need anything but my sight to know that they are upset and nervous. My attention goes back to the throne as she asks me my purpose, and I tell her what I am going to do. I am not asking, and she knows that. She begins to scowl, but she knows that I am resolute. A sigh, and she then requests of me something that I had not anticipated.

I will train the five Senshi, but I will also train her daughter. They shall be a force to be reckoned with when I am done.

To be continued.

Webmaster: Larry F
Last revision: May 21, 2007