Steve T.
26th December 2003, 12:00 PM
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the Creation of Nakao Takeuchi. The concept
of Spider-Man is owned by Marvel Comics. No money is being made from
this and no such intent should be inferred. C&C, public or Private, is
always welcome.
"The difference between fiction and reality
is that fiction has to make sense."
-- Tom Clancy
Ami and Naru sat in Study Hall in an isolated corner of the library
watching as Usagi attempted to build a house of cards using only
telekenisis.
At least, that was what it looked she was doing. With Usagi, it could
be anything.
At that point, a copy of the Bugle slid on to the table as Flash joined
them, knocking over the cards that had been already standing.
"Nico's dead," Flash said, tapping the paper. "Some bum found him in
the park this morning, near the fountain."
"It says here that there was no sign of violence," Naru said, taking
the paper and scanning the article. "He was just lying there. Dead, but
otherwise unharmed. Freaky."
****
Beryl smiled as she walked around her new General. She hadn't expected
the conditioning to take so little time, but she hadn't realized how
much resentment and buried anger there was. There was quite a bit of
it. Jealousy too. All buried, but there, and therefore, usable.
"The Senshi won't know what hit them," Beryl said to Kasuhito, Jinnai
and Zon, who stood nearby. Or rather, Kunzite, Jadeite, and Zoisite,
her Lord Generals. "Isn't that right, General Magnetite?"
General Magnetite smiled, it was not a pleasant expression.
****
Night had fallen.
In the park, Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, and Spiderwoman stood next to
the fountain. There were still signs of the police having been there.
Yellow tape, chalk on the grass, the usual.
Crouching in the grass, Sailor Moon, deerstalker cap on her head, took
out a magnifying glass and a flashlight and peered at the grass.
"I deduce, Doctor Watson," she said, "that what we have here is nothing
less then freshly tended grass."
"Who?" Jupiter asked.
"Sherlock Holmes," Sailor Moon said.
"No, Doctor Watson," Jupiter corrected.
"I..." Sailor Moon trailed off and stared at the blank look on
Jupiter's face. "You have got to be kidding..."
"What?" Jupiter asked.
"Oh do I have some work to do," Sailor Moon said.
"Oh," Jupiter said when Sailor Moon had finished explaining about
Holmes. "He sounds like a real putz."
"Putz? He was the greatest detective of all time!"
"Some detective. His nemesis was a friggin math teacher! What's so
great about that?"
I..." Sailor Moon stared at Jupiter. "You worry me, madam," she said
archly.
"Bout time somebody did," Jupiter responded. "Hey, what's Ami doing?"
"I told you," Sailor Moon said turning to see what Jupiter was looking
at. "We don't use our real names when we're out as Senshi, it's a
bench. Why is she staring at a bench?"
Indeed, Ami was wearing her civilan clothes and was staring at one of
the benches that ringed the fountain. As they watched, Ami's head
bowed, and her shoulders began to shake. Soft sobbing sounds reached
their ears.
"Ami?" Sailor Moon asked, going over to her and laying a head on her
shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Ami looked at her, blue eyes red from crying. "This is where I last
saw Gendo," she whispered. "W-we fought. He...he wanted me to stop
being friends with you...said you were a bad influence."
'Thanks for the compliment, Shinnie," Sailor Moon thought to herself,
but wisely did not say that out loud.
"You bastard!" Ami shrieked, lunging forward and kicking the bench, her
clothes becoming the Spiderwoman costume, causing Sailor Moon's mouth
to drop open. Ami had not touched the armband to don her costume, but
rather, she had seemed to ripple, and there it was. "Why did you leave
me?"
The bench itself flew off its bolts, sending bits of concrete every
which way, and arcing through the air to bounce and skid across the
concrete path.
Spiderwoman darted forward, picking up the bench. Again, she rippled
and there Sailor Mecury stood. She screamed, a wail of grief and rage
that seemed to be beyond the power of any human throat. It was a scream
that reached down into the soul, jerked things off the wall and made
them writhe. Then, she hurled the bench at the fountain.
"Shit!" Jupiter cried and tackled Sailor Moon at the knees, knocking
her to the ground as the bench sailed through the air where Sailor
Moon's head had been.
The bench collided with the fountain, denting the steel hard enough to
lodge in there and shattering the ceramic tiles.
"Kuso..." Sailor Moon breathed.
Spiderwoman screamed that horrible scream again, and then fired a
webline into the trees, leaping away into the park.
"Fuckin A," Jupiter said.
"After her!" Sailor Moon cried as she leapt to her feet and charged off
into the woods.
"I deserve a damn medal," Jupiter said and took off after Sailor Moon.
"I was bluffing, I was bluffing, God, I was bluffing," Sailor Moon was
saying when Jupiter caught up to her.
"Bluffing?"
"Spiderwoman's a killer!" Sailor Moon panted. "Remember when the Jet
Hurl got trashed?"
"Yeah?"
"Right before that, there was an attempted rape. Spiderwoman stopped it
by killing the rapists. Turned their heads into strawberry jam. I told
her that if she ever killed again, I'd expose her to the entire city."
Jupiter frowned. She was vaugely aware that Ami was a looney, that is,
was three different people in one body, but beyond that, she had lost
interest.
"So far," Sailor Moon continued, "she's been good, but Gendo's a touchy
subject."
"Who? Oh, the blond sword kid. Isn't he dead?"
"Yeah. Spiderwoman came about because Ami feels guilty that she ran
rather then standing her ground."
They skidded to a stop. In a clearing, two teens sat, staring at a body
lying on the ground. The teens, both girls, held onto each other and
shook with fright.
"What the hell?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Some crazy woman!" One of the teens gasped. "That guy was going to
rape us. She leapt out of the trees, beat him to a pulp and then took
off, screaming the whole time."
"She was hot though," the second girl added. "That red and blue suit
was totally formfitting."
"He's alive, barely," Jupiter said, examning the rapist's body. "I
suppose that's a good thing."
"Get out of here," Sailor Moon said to the teens. "Find a phone, call
the police."
The two teens noded and stood up. "She went that way," one of them
said, pointing.
"Thanks," Sailor Moon said. "C'mon, Jupes."
"'Jupes'?" Jupiter repeated as she ran after Sailor Moon.
Zoisite stripped off his disguise and looked at Kunzite. "That went
well," he said.
"Indeed," Kunzite replied, removing his own disguise. "'She was hot'?"
"I was into the role."
Kunzite gave Zoisite a withering glance and then they both looked at
Jadeite, who was sitting up, the bruises fading. "Did it work?" Jadeite
asked.
"We'll know soon enough," Kunzite said. "Magnetite did say that the
Senshi would remember this night for a long time."
****
A layer of asphalt flew up as both Senshi skidded out of the park and
turned north. Horns honked as they crossed the street by jumping from
car roof to car roof, leapt onto awnings and onto the rooftops.
"Which way?"
Sailor Moon pondered. Pacing back and forth, trying to think. "Scum,
she wants to punish scum. Scum scum scum high crime--Shinjuku!"
****
The Green Goblin watched silently as Spiderwoman took out yet another
petty thug, all the while screaming a horrible scream. The Goblin had
yet to make himself known, content to watch her dispatching small time
operators. The police radio built into his mask informed him that only
just now, the police were arriving at the first call, at the edge of
Shinjuku.
It appeared that Spiderwoman had a death wish. She had cut a straight
line into the district, leaving behind a bloody trail. She had yet to
kill anyone--pity--but she didn't seem to care about getting killed.
Idly, he wondered what had set her off.
"Entertaining, isn't it?" asked someone behind him.
Goblin whipped around, the flying craft responding instantly. Sitting
on the chimmney was a senuous redhead in a form-fitting dress and a
black crown. A crystal orb topped her scepter and she was watching him
with a smile on her face.
Without quite knowing why, Goblin moved closer. He sensed he was
looking at a kindred spirit.
"My name is Beryl," she purred. "You are the Green Goblin?"
"I am."
"I have a proposition for you."
****
Even Senshi had their limits and finally, both Sailor Moon and Jupiter
collapsed on an air conditioner. It was almost midnight, and they had
gone back and forth across Shinjuku, finding plenty of places where
Spiderwoman had been, but unable to locate her.
Both girls were thoroughly winded. Sailor Moon had shed her leather
trench, sending it back to wherever the senshi outfits went and still
sweat poured off of her.
Jupiter, who often spent half the day every day doing grueling physical
excercise, was hardly better.
"How...the hell...does she...move so fast?" Jupiter demanded between
gasps for air.
"Spider powers," Sailor Moon gasped back. "It must be. Gad, her
endurance and stamina are off the charts."
"Does she get tired?"
"Let's hope so." Sailor Moon took a deep breath and forced herself to
stand. "Let's keep moving. If we stay here much longer we won't be able
to get moving again."
"Who picked me to be a Senshi?" Jupiter said as she too stood up. "I
wanna smack 'em."
****
Get them. Get them all. No one goes unpunished.
Spiderwoman moved across the city. Vaugely, she was aware of voices in
her head yelling at her, of her body protesting.
She ignored it. She ignored it all.
Get the scum. Must get the scum.
Gendo...
****
The big digital clock proclaimed it two in the morning, when Jupiter
finally collapsed on a scaffolding. She and Sailor Moon were in the
Entertainment district where the buildings on either side of the main
street were topped with miniture skyscrapers of neon signs. The
scaffolding itself was for maintence workers.
"No more," Jupiter said. "I can't take another step."
Sailor Moon leaned against the sign, its heat soothing aching muscels.
"If I ever get access to a time machine," she vowed. "Or even the
chance to travel through time, the first thing I will do is go kick
Gendo's ass for putting Ami through this hell. I don't care if the fate
of the cosmos hangs in the balance, I am going back in time to kick
that kid's ass."
Jupiter made a noise to demonstrate agreement. It wasn't as though she
could do anything else.
Finally, after several minutes, Jupiter recovered enough to sit up.
"Fuck secrets," Jupiter said. "I saw we drag Ami to a psychciatrist.
Let them put her back together."
"My dad sent me to one once," Sailor Moon said.
"Yeah? What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I was explaining my theory of time-traveling hippo and
penguin alien invaders from another planet in a paralell dimension when
he suddenly started screaming and then hurled himself out the window.
Granted, I was talking very fast and doubletalking while I was at it,
so maybe he was little confused."
"Let me guess, you would have only been too happy to explain had he
asked."
"In tripletalk, of course."
"Of course." Jupiter voice was filled with sarcasam. "Look," Ami's
probably worked her angst out by now. I say we go home."
"I can't," Sailor Moon replied. "Ami's my friend. I won't turn my back
on my friends."
"Look at you...hell, look at me. We're both exhausted, probably beyond
exhasusted. It's two damn something in the fucking morning, and the
person we've been trying to find has made like Casper and vanished."
Sailor Moon reached over and grabbed the front of Jupiter's fuku,
pulling her close. Her blue eyes blazed and she seemed to have fangs as
she snarled, her voice seeming to take on an otherworldly echo. "We're
not going home until we find her!" She gave Jupiter a cheerful smile.
"Okay?" she chirped.
"Okay," Jupiter squeaked and extracted her fuku from Sailor Moon's
grip. "All I'm saying is, we don't know where she is and we're running
ourselves to death going all over the city trying to find her. We need
a plan."
"Yeah, I know. Sorry." Sailor Moon sat down next to Jupiter. "I'm just
worried about her."
"You two are pretty tight then?"
Sailor Moon shrugged. "She doesn't care that I have more money then
most small countries. That means a lot."
Jupiter watched the street below. "I guess I owe her an apology. I've
been a real bitch to her...I couldn't help it...I hated her--" Jupiter
cut herself off. "Never mind."
"Do my ears decieve me?" Sailor Moon asked. "You're really sorry?"
"Yeah." Jupiter sighed. "Yeah I am. Go figure, huh?"
"Think fast," Sailor Moon said and tossed a camera at her.
"What?"
"Take a look at the lens."
Jupiter peered closely at the lens. A crack ran across it and in it's
depths, she saw more cracks.
"It took a hit while we were saving you. The film got fried by light.
All the pictures are gone."
"But...why..." Jupiter stared at her as she suddenly realized how she
had been manipulated into being friends with Ami...at the same time,
relief flooded through her that she could go back to her old life
and...
And what?
Lonley days filled with nothing but school, games, and shallow jocks
who only cared about her because she getting them glory? She was only
too well aware that the only reason her freakish size was ignored was
because she was useful to the team and to the school.
But for the past month, she had...well, be honest, she had grown to
like hanging out with Usagi and Naru. And Ami wasn't too bad...but she
had been forced into it.
And all things considered, the end result wasn't too bad, was it?
Jupiter stared at the camera for what seemed like hours, then her eyes
closed as her fingers crushed the camera.
"Thanks," she said quietly.
Sailor Moon grinned. "I never turn my back on my friends."
Jupiter stared at her. "One question. What did you have on Ami?"
"Her hair. It's actually mauve. She dyes it." They both started
laughing.
When they had calmed down, Sailor Moon turned serious. "Can I ask you
something personal?"
"Sure?"
"You said you hated Ami...why?"
Jupiter stared at Sailor Moon. On one hand, she desperately wanted to
tell someone the secret she had kept locked away for nearly ten years.
On the other, the blonde next to her had proven she had no qaulms about
blackmail to get someone to do something.
'Yeah, but look at what happened. You have friends. Real friends.'
'Do I? Maybe she's messing with me.'
'Maybe. But why would she tell you about the camera then? Go for it.
You can disappear if you have too.'
'I don't want to.'
.. . .
'Yes, I do.'
Jupiter took a deep breath. "I lost my parents at Okinawa," she said
simply.
"So did Ami," Sailor Moon replied.
"You don't understand. They were all I had. I'm an orphan."
"But you--" Sailor Moon blinked several times. "How did you . . . I
mean, you have the apartment, you go to Juuban Academy."
"There were so many unknowns," Jupiter said. "So many people so badly
mutilated that they were unidentifible. We lived up north. Isolated. It
was so easy to just vanish. Head south. Move from school to school.
Learn how to get around the system."
"How did you do it?"
"Whatever I had to do. My folks were stockbrokers. Had things set up so
that the money pretty much ran itself. I'd spent enough time in their
office that I knew what to do to keep things on track." Jupiter
shrugged. "If anyone asks, I tell them my folks are traveling and they
wire me money here and there." Jupiter smiled painfully. "'Cause they
trust me."
"Surely someone's gotten curious," Sailor Moon said.
"Here and there. That's usally when I moved on. But here in Tokyo . .
.."
"Nobody notices enough to care," Sailor Moon said flatly. "But you
haven't answered my question."
Jupiter sighed. "After Okinawa, Ami and the other Miracles were paraded
all over the TV. Everytime I turned on the TV, there they were. They
made a big deal out of Ami. Kept going on how she had her Aunt and her
grandparents." Jupiter's eyes narrowed. "Miraculous Ami Mizuno. The
last survivor. Look at her. She lost her mother, but she has family.
People to love her." Jupiter's voice was flat. Her nostrils flared. She
stared at something only she could see, her fingers gripping the
scaffolding hard enough to twist it. "What did I have? Nothing. A big
old empty house. Not even a pet for company. Meanwhile, good old Ami
was having all sorts of stuff just given to her. She had a family."
Tears began to streak down Jupiter's cheeks. "Family to tuck her in at
night, to hold her during a thunderstorm. It wasn't fair. Where was my
family? It just wasn't fair."
Angrily, Jupiter dashed her tears away with a swipe of her hand.
"That's when I began to hate her. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't
care anymore. All there was the pain, and the hate. I wanted the hate.
I used it. But the pain . . ." She laughed, a laugh without humor. "I
couldn't outrun the pain. It was always there in my dreams. A sharp
knife buried to the hilt my heart. Then, when I was twelve, I took a
dare. Dead man's Current. A fifty yard section of a river scattered
with razor sharp rocks. You hit one of those, you're dead. I made it.
It was such a rush. So was sex. I'd found a way to outrun the pain."
"You were twelve?" Sailor Moon asked. "You lost it when you were
twelve?"
Jupiter nodded. "Sports was another one that gave me a rush. I'm so big
and tall that I can play on equal terms with the boys. Schools will
bend over backwards for their stars, cut them all sorts of breaks and
look the other way, so I made sure I was one. Anything to keep up the
charade. Then I came to Juuban and I saw Ami, it all came back. All I
wanted was to hurt her. Make her feel what I felt for ten years. But I
couldn't tell her why. I was scared. I was afraid she'd understand. How
can you hurt someone when they know your pain as keenly as you do?"
"So you hid the pain," Sailor Moon said gently. "And bullied Ami
because you know she wouldn't fight back."
Jupiter nodded. "That was my life. Sports, sex, bully Ami. All of it
kept that knife out of my heart. Then, a few months ago, the knife came
back. Nothing I did would get rid of it. Nothing except a good screw.
But the knife always came back. And then came that night in my
apartment." She watched the signs across the way for a moment. "I
didn't realize it at first, but ever since I first used that wand,
since I started hanging out with you guys, the knife is gone. I'm
free."
"You have friends," Sailor Moon said softly. "Real friends who accept
you for who you are instead of what you are."
"That's so sappy," Jupiter said. "True, but sappy as hell."
"I try," Sailor Moon said with aplomb as she glanced at the clock.
"We'd better get moving."
"Yeah, I . . .what the . . .?"
Sailor Moon looked at Jupiter. The other Senshi was staring across the
street at the signs. Silhouetted against one of them was a figure.
The Figure raised it's hand and the scaffolding began to shake.
"SHIIIIIIT!" Jupiter screamed as the scaffolding pulled away from the
building, raining debris onto the street below.
"Hang on!" Sailor Moon shouted as the scaffolding, as tall as a three
story building, crashed into the offices across the street. "Move!"
Driven by adrenilene, the two girls scrambled up the metal bars of the
scaffolding and onto the roof.
"Now what?" Jupiter asked.
"Duck!" Sailor Moon shouted, pulling Jupiter to the rooftop as an AC
unit whizzed through the space where their heads had been.
"Thanks," Jupiter said.
"Thank me if we live," Sailor Moon retorted. "Run!" She leapt to her
feet and sprinted across the rooftop and launched herself across the
narrow gap, arms spread wide like wings as she seemed to fly and
touched down as gently as a falling leaf on the next roof.
Jupiter's landing wasn't as graceful. In fact, it was downright
painful. She stumbled several steps and then fell forward, bouncing
slightly as she slid.
"Owwww . . ." Jupiter moaned. "How did you manage that leap -- and if
you tell me to free my mind, I will hit you."
"Nothing so cheesy," Sailor Moon said. "Don't think about how, just do.
Instinct handles the rest."
"I'll give it a try," Jupiter said as she got to her feet.
"No," Sailor Moon said. "Do, or do--
"Don't." Jupiter said. "Don't go there. Just . . . don't."
A mettallic thud behind them caused them to turn around. Standing there
was a twenty-foot tall colussus of metal pipes and roof AC units.
There was the whine of turbines and the Green Goblin, as the Bugle had
named him rose up over the roof edge.
Now back to back, Jupiter and Sailor Moon watched as Jinnai, dressed in
a military style uniform materialized, joined moment later by the
ugliest youma Sailor Moon had ever seen.
"Shit," Jupiter said.
"Question," Sailor Moon said, scraping the heel of her boot against
Jupiter's in a downward motion. "Seeing as how you and I are beyond
exhaustion and surrounded by people and things who probably want us
dead, and who, by the way, have us outnumbered four to two, would you
say that, barring some sort of lightning strike style of a last minute
save, we're about to die?"
Jupiter blinked for a moment at the question and then noddded in
understanding. "You have to ask?" she asked in a lighthearted tone,
praying she was right."
"Very good. Shall we, then?"
"Ready when you are."
"GO!"
-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://livejournal.com/users/pandoras_closet
http://aberdawnknights.keenspace.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/~pandorascloset
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'
of Spider-Man is owned by Marvel Comics. No money is being made from
this and no such intent should be inferred. C&C, public or Private, is
always welcome.
"The difference between fiction and reality
is that fiction has to make sense."
-- Tom Clancy
Ami and Naru sat in Study Hall in an isolated corner of the library
watching as Usagi attempted to build a house of cards using only
telekenisis.
At least, that was what it looked she was doing. With Usagi, it could
be anything.
At that point, a copy of the Bugle slid on to the table as Flash joined
them, knocking over the cards that had been already standing.
"Nico's dead," Flash said, tapping the paper. "Some bum found him in
the park this morning, near the fountain."
"It says here that there was no sign of violence," Naru said, taking
the paper and scanning the article. "He was just lying there. Dead, but
otherwise unharmed. Freaky."
****
Beryl smiled as she walked around her new General. She hadn't expected
the conditioning to take so little time, but she hadn't realized how
much resentment and buried anger there was. There was quite a bit of
it. Jealousy too. All buried, but there, and therefore, usable.
"The Senshi won't know what hit them," Beryl said to Kasuhito, Jinnai
and Zon, who stood nearby. Or rather, Kunzite, Jadeite, and Zoisite,
her Lord Generals. "Isn't that right, General Magnetite?"
General Magnetite smiled, it was not a pleasant expression.
****
Night had fallen.
In the park, Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, and Spiderwoman stood next to
the fountain. There were still signs of the police having been there.
Yellow tape, chalk on the grass, the usual.
Crouching in the grass, Sailor Moon, deerstalker cap on her head, took
out a magnifying glass and a flashlight and peered at the grass.
"I deduce, Doctor Watson," she said, "that what we have here is nothing
less then freshly tended grass."
"Who?" Jupiter asked.
"Sherlock Holmes," Sailor Moon said.
"No, Doctor Watson," Jupiter corrected.
"I..." Sailor Moon trailed off and stared at the blank look on
Jupiter's face. "You have got to be kidding..."
"What?" Jupiter asked.
"Oh do I have some work to do," Sailor Moon said.
"Oh," Jupiter said when Sailor Moon had finished explaining about
Holmes. "He sounds like a real putz."
"Putz? He was the greatest detective of all time!"
"Some detective. His nemesis was a friggin math teacher! What's so
great about that?"
I..." Sailor Moon stared at Jupiter. "You worry me, madam," she said
archly.
"Bout time somebody did," Jupiter responded. "Hey, what's Ami doing?"
"I told you," Sailor Moon said turning to see what Jupiter was looking
at. "We don't use our real names when we're out as Senshi, it's a
bench. Why is she staring at a bench?"
Indeed, Ami was wearing her civilan clothes and was staring at one of
the benches that ringed the fountain. As they watched, Ami's head
bowed, and her shoulders began to shake. Soft sobbing sounds reached
their ears.
"Ami?" Sailor Moon asked, going over to her and laying a head on her
shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Ami looked at her, blue eyes red from crying. "This is where I last
saw Gendo," she whispered. "W-we fought. He...he wanted me to stop
being friends with you...said you were a bad influence."
'Thanks for the compliment, Shinnie," Sailor Moon thought to herself,
but wisely did not say that out loud.
"You bastard!" Ami shrieked, lunging forward and kicking the bench, her
clothes becoming the Spiderwoman costume, causing Sailor Moon's mouth
to drop open. Ami had not touched the armband to don her costume, but
rather, she had seemed to ripple, and there it was. "Why did you leave
me?"
The bench itself flew off its bolts, sending bits of concrete every
which way, and arcing through the air to bounce and skid across the
concrete path.
Spiderwoman darted forward, picking up the bench. Again, she rippled
and there Sailor Mecury stood. She screamed, a wail of grief and rage
that seemed to be beyond the power of any human throat. It was a scream
that reached down into the soul, jerked things off the wall and made
them writhe. Then, she hurled the bench at the fountain.
"Shit!" Jupiter cried and tackled Sailor Moon at the knees, knocking
her to the ground as the bench sailed through the air where Sailor
Moon's head had been.
The bench collided with the fountain, denting the steel hard enough to
lodge in there and shattering the ceramic tiles.
"Kuso..." Sailor Moon breathed.
Spiderwoman screamed that horrible scream again, and then fired a
webline into the trees, leaping away into the park.
"Fuckin A," Jupiter said.
"After her!" Sailor Moon cried as she leapt to her feet and charged off
into the woods.
"I deserve a damn medal," Jupiter said and took off after Sailor Moon.
"I was bluffing, I was bluffing, God, I was bluffing," Sailor Moon was
saying when Jupiter caught up to her.
"Bluffing?"
"Spiderwoman's a killer!" Sailor Moon panted. "Remember when the Jet
Hurl got trashed?"
"Yeah?"
"Right before that, there was an attempted rape. Spiderwoman stopped it
by killing the rapists. Turned their heads into strawberry jam. I told
her that if she ever killed again, I'd expose her to the entire city."
Jupiter frowned. She was vaugely aware that Ami was a looney, that is,
was three different people in one body, but beyond that, she had lost
interest.
"So far," Sailor Moon continued, "she's been good, but Gendo's a touchy
subject."
"Who? Oh, the blond sword kid. Isn't he dead?"
"Yeah. Spiderwoman came about because Ami feels guilty that she ran
rather then standing her ground."
They skidded to a stop. In a clearing, two teens sat, staring at a body
lying on the ground. The teens, both girls, held onto each other and
shook with fright.
"What the hell?" Sailor Moon asked.
"Some crazy woman!" One of the teens gasped. "That guy was going to
rape us. She leapt out of the trees, beat him to a pulp and then took
off, screaming the whole time."
"She was hot though," the second girl added. "That red and blue suit
was totally formfitting."
"He's alive, barely," Jupiter said, examning the rapist's body. "I
suppose that's a good thing."
"Get out of here," Sailor Moon said to the teens. "Find a phone, call
the police."
The two teens noded and stood up. "She went that way," one of them
said, pointing.
"Thanks," Sailor Moon said. "C'mon, Jupes."
"'Jupes'?" Jupiter repeated as she ran after Sailor Moon.
Zoisite stripped off his disguise and looked at Kunzite. "That went
well," he said.
"Indeed," Kunzite replied, removing his own disguise. "'She was hot'?"
"I was into the role."
Kunzite gave Zoisite a withering glance and then they both looked at
Jadeite, who was sitting up, the bruises fading. "Did it work?" Jadeite
asked.
"We'll know soon enough," Kunzite said. "Magnetite did say that the
Senshi would remember this night for a long time."
****
A layer of asphalt flew up as both Senshi skidded out of the park and
turned north. Horns honked as they crossed the street by jumping from
car roof to car roof, leapt onto awnings and onto the rooftops.
"Which way?"
Sailor Moon pondered. Pacing back and forth, trying to think. "Scum,
she wants to punish scum. Scum scum scum high crime--Shinjuku!"
****
The Green Goblin watched silently as Spiderwoman took out yet another
petty thug, all the while screaming a horrible scream. The Goblin had
yet to make himself known, content to watch her dispatching small time
operators. The police radio built into his mask informed him that only
just now, the police were arriving at the first call, at the edge of
Shinjuku.
It appeared that Spiderwoman had a death wish. She had cut a straight
line into the district, leaving behind a bloody trail. She had yet to
kill anyone--pity--but she didn't seem to care about getting killed.
Idly, he wondered what had set her off.
"Entertaining, isn't it?" asked someone behind him.
Goblin whipped around, the flying craft responding instantly. Sitting
on the chimmney was a senuous redhead in a form-fitting dress and a
black crown. A crystal orb topped her scepter and she was watching him
with a smile on her face.
Without quite knowing why, Goblin moved closer. He sensed he was
looking at a kindred spirit.
"My name is Beryl," she purred. "You are the Green Goblin?"
"I am."
"I have a proposition for you."
****
Even Senshi had their limits and finally, both Sailor Moon and Jupiter
collapsed on an air conditioner. It was almost midnight, and they had
gone back and forth across Shinjuku, finding plenty of places where
Spiderwoman had been, but unable to locate her.
Both girls were thoroughly winded. Sailor Moon had shed her leather
trench, sending it back to wherever the senshi outfits went and still
sweat poured off of her.
Jupiter, who often spent half the day every day doing grueling physical
excercise, was hardly better.
"How...the hell...does she...move so fast?" Jupiter demanded between
gasps for air.
"Spider powers," Sailor Moon gasped back. "It must be. Gad, her
endurance and stamina are off the charts."
"Does she get tired?"
"Let's hope so." Sailor Moon took a deep breath and forced herself to
stand. "Let's keep moving. If we stay here much longer we won't be able
to get moving again."
"Who picked me to be a Senshi?" Jupiter said as she too stood up. "I
wanna smack 'em."
****
Get them. Get them all. No one goes unpunished.
Spiderwoman moved across the city. Vaugely, she was aware of voices in
her head yelling at her, of her body protesting.
She ignored it. She ignored it all.
Get the scum. Must get the scum.
Gendo...
****
The big digital clock proclaimed it two in the morning, when Jupiter
finally collapsed on a scaffolding. She and Sailor Moon were in the
Entertainment district where the buildings on either side of the main
street were topped with miniture skyscrapers of neon signs. The
scaffolding itself was for maintence workers.
"No more," Jupiter said. "I can't take another step."
Sailor Moon leaned against the sign, its heat soothing aching muscels.
"If I ever get access to a time machine," she vowed. "Or even the
chance to travel through time, the first thing I will do is go kick
Gendo's ass for putting Ami through this hell. I don't care if the fate
of the cosmos hangs in the balance, I am going back in time to kick
that kid's ass."
Jupiter made a noise to demonstrate agreement. It wasn't as though she
could do anything else.
Finally, after several minutes, Jupiter recovered enough to sit up.
"Fuck secrets," Jupiter said. "I saw we drag Ami to a psychciatrist.
Let them put her back together."
"My dad sent me to one once," Sailor Moon said.
"Yeah? What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I was explaining my theory of time-traveling hippo and
penguin alien invaders from another planet in a paralell dimension when
he suddenly started screaming and then hurled himself out the window.
Granted, I was talking very fast and doubletalking while I was at it,
so maybe he was little confused."
"Let me guess, you would have only been too happy to explain had he
asked."
"In tripletalk, of course."
"Of course." Jupiter voice was filled with sarcasam. "Look," Ami's
probably worked her angst out by now. I say we go home."
"I can't," Sailor Moon replied. "Ami's my friend. I won't turn my back
on my friends."
"Look at you...hell, look at me. We're both exhausted, probably beyond
exhasusted. It's two damn something in the fucking morning, and the
person we've been trying to find has made like Casper and vanished."
Sailor Moon reached over and grabbed the front of Jupiter's fuku,
pulling her close. Her blue eyes blazed and she seemed to have fangs as
she snarled, her voice seeming to take on an otherworldly echo. "We're
not going home until we find her!" She gave Jupiter a cheerful smile.
"Okay?" she chirped.
"Okay," Jupiter squeaked and extracted her fuku from Sailor Moon's
grip. "All I'm saying is, we don't know where she is and we're running
ourselves to death going all over the city trying to find her. We need
a plan."
"Yeah, I know. Sorry." Sailor Moon sat down next to Jupiter. "I'm just
worried about her."
"You two are pretty tight then?"
Sailor Moon shrugged. "She doesn't care that I have more money then
most small countries. That means a lot."
Jupiter watched the street below. "I guess I owe her an apology. I've
been a real bitch to her...I couldn't help it...I hated her--" Jupiter
cut herself off. "Never mind."
"Do my ears decieve me?" Sailor Moon asked. "You're really sorry?"
"Yeah." Jupiter sighed. "Yeah I am. Go figure, huh?"
"Think fast," Sailor Moon said and tossed a camera at her.
"What?"
"Take a look at the lens."
Jupiter peered closely at the lens. A crack ran across it and in it's
depths, she saw more cracks.
"It took a hit while we were saving you. The film got fried by light.
All the pictures are gone."
"But...why..." Jupiter stared at her as she suddenly realized how she
had been manipulated into being friends with Ami...at the same time,
relief flooded through her that she could go back to her old life
and...
And what?
Lonley days filled with nothing but school, games, and shallow jocks
who only cared about her because she getting them glory? She was only
too well aware that the only reason her freakish size was ignored was
because she was useful to the team and to the school.
But for the past month, she had...well, be honest, she had grown to
like hanging out with Usagi and Naru. And Ami wasn't too bad...but she
had been forced into it.
And all things considered, the end result wasn't too bad, was it?
Jupiter stared at the camera for what seemed like hours, then her eyes
closed as her fingers crushed the camera.
"Thanks," she said quietly.
Sailor Moon grinned. "I never turn my back on my friends."
Jupiter stared at her. "One question. What did you have on Ami?"
"Her hair. It's actually mauve. She dyes it." They both started
laughing.
When they had calmed down, Sailor Moon turned serious. "Can I ask you
something personal?"
"Sure?"
"You said you hated Ami...why?"
Jupiter stared at Sailor Moon. On one hand, she desperately wanted to
tell someone the secret she had kept locked away for nearly ten years.
On the other, the blonde next to her had proven she had no qaulms about
blackmail to get someone to do something.
'Yeah, but look at what happened. You have friends. Real friends.'
'Do I? Maybe she's messing with me.'
'Maybe. But why would she tell you about the camera then? Go for it.
You can disappear if you have too.'
'I don't want to.'
.. . .
'Yes, I do.'
Jupiter took a deep breath. "I lost my parents at Okinawa," she said
simply.
"So did Ami," Sailor Moon replied.
"You don't understand. They were all I had. I'm an orphan."
"But you--" Sailor Moon blinked several times. "How did you . . . I
mean, you have the apartment, you go to Juuban Academy."
"There were so many unknowns," Jupiter said. "So many people so badly
mutilated that they were unidentifible. We lived up north. Isolated. It
was so easy to just vanish. Head south. Move from school to school.
Learn how to get around the system."
"How did you do it?"
"Whatever I had to do. My folks were stockbrokers. Had things set up so
that the money pretty much ran itself. I'd spent enough time in their
office that I knew what to do to keep things on track." Jupiter
shrugged. "If anyone asks, I tell them my folks are traveling and they
wire me money here and there." Jupiter smiled painfully. "'Cause they
trust me."
"Surely someone's gotten curious," Sailor Moon said.
"Here and there. That's usally when I moved on. But here in Tokyo . .
.."
"Nobody notices enough to care," Sailor Moon said flatly. "But you
haven't answered my question."
Jupiter sighed. "After Okinawa, Ami and the other Miracles were paraded
all over the TV. Everytime I turned on the TV, there they were. They
made a big deal out of Ami. Kept going on how she had her Aunt and her
grandparents." Jupiter's eyes narrowed. "Miraculous Ami Mizuno. The
last survivor. Look at her. She lost her mother, but she has family.
People to love her." Jupiter's voice was flat. Her nostrils flared. She
stared at something only she could see, her fingers gripping the
scaffolding hard enough to twist it. "What did I have? Nothing. A big
old empty house. Not even a pet for company. Meanwhile, good old Ami
was having all sorts of stuff just given to her. She had a family."
Tears began to streak down Jupiter's cheeks. "Family to tuck her in at
night, to hold her during a thunderstorm. It wasn't fair. Where was my
family? It just wasn't fair."
Angrily, Jupiter dashed her tears away with a swipe of her hand.
"That's when I began to hate her. I knew it was wrong, but I didn't
care anymore. All there was the pain, and the hate. I wanted the hate.
I used it. But the pain . . ." She laughed, a laugh without humor. "I
couldn't outrun the pain. It was always there in my dreams. A sharp
knife buried to the hilt my heart. Then, when I was twelve, I took a
dare. Dead man's Current. A fifty yard section of a river scattered
with razor sharp rocks. You hit one of those, you're dead. I made it.
It was such a rush. So was sex. I'd found a way to outrun the pain."
"You were twelve?" Sailor Moon asked. "You lost it when you were
twelve?"
Jupiter nodded. "Sports was another one that gave me a rush. I'm so big
and tall that I can play on equal terms with the boys. Schools will
bend over backwards for their stars, cut them all sorts of breaks and
look the other way, so I made sure I was one. Anything to keep up the
charade. Then I came to Juuban and I saw Ami, it all came back. All I
wanted was to hurt her. Make her feel what I felt for ten years. But I
couldn't tell her why. I was scared. I was afraid she'd understand. How
can you hurt someone when they know your pain as keenly as you do?"
"So you hid the pain," Sailor Moon said gently. "And bullied Ami
because you know she wouldn't fight back."
Jupiter nodded. "That was my life. Sports, sex, bully Ami. All of it
kept that knife out of my heart. Then, a few months ago, the knife came
back. Nothing I did would get rid of it. Nothing except a good screw.
But the knife always came back. And then came that night in my
apartment." She watched the signs across the way for a moment. "I
didn't realize it at first, but ever since I first used that wand,
since I started hanging out with you guys, the knife is gone. I'm
free."
"You have friends," Sailor Moon said softly. "Real friends who accept
you for who you are instead of what you are."
"That's so sappy," Jupiter said. "True, but sappy as hell."
"I try," Sailor Moon said with aplomb as she glanced at the clock.
"We'd better get moving."
"Yeah, I . . .what the . . .?"
Sailor Moon looked at Jupiter. The other Senshi was staring across the
street at the signs. Silhouetted against one of them was a figure.
The Figure raised it's hand and the scaffolding began to shake.
"SHIIIIIIT!" Jupiter screamed as the scaffolding pulled away from the
building, raining debris onto the street below.
"Hang on!" Sailor Moon shouted as the scaffolding, as tall as a three
story building, crashed into the offices across the street. "Move!"
Driven by adrenilene, the two girls scrambled up the metal bars of the
scaffolding and onto the roof.
"Now what?" Jupiter asked.
"Duck!" Sailor Moon shouted, pulling Jupiter to the rooftop as an AC
unit whizzed through the space where their heads had been.
"Thanks," Jupiter said.
"Thank me if we live," Sailor Moon retorted. "Run!" She leapt to her
feet and sprinted across the rooftop and launched herself across the
narrow gap, arms spread wide like wings as she seemed to fly and
touched down as gently as a falling leaf on the next roof.
Jupiter's landing wasn't as graceful. In fact, it was downright
painful. She stumbled several steps and then fell forward, bouncing
slightly as she slid.
"Owwww . . ." Jupiter moaned. "How did you manage that leap -- and if
you tell me to free my mind, I will hit you."
"Nothing so cheesy," Sailor Moon said. "Don't think about how, just do.
Instinct handles the rest."
"I'll give it a try," Jupiter said as she got to her feet.
"No," Sailor Moon said. "Do, or do--
"Don't." Jupiter said. "Don't go there. Just . . . don't."
A mettallic thud behind them caused them to turn around. Standing there
was a twenty-foot tall colussus of metal pipes and roof AC units.
There was the whine of turbines and the Green Goblin, as the Bugle had
named him rose up over the roof edge.
Now back to back, Jupiter and Sailor Moon watched as Jinnai, dressed in
a military style uniform materialized, joined moment later by the
ugliest youma Sailor Moon had ever seen.
"Shit," Jupiter said.
"Question," Sailor Moon said, scraping the heel of her boot against
Jupiter's in a downward motion. "Seeing as how you and I are beyond
exhaustion and surrounded by people and things who probably want us
dead, and who, by the way, have us outnumbered four to two, would you
say that, barring some sort of lightning strike style of a last minute
save, we're about to die?"
Jupiter blinked for a moment at the question and then noddded in
understanding. "You have to ask?" she asked in a lighthearted tone,
praying she was right."
"Very good. Shall we, then?"
"Ready when you are."
"GO!"
-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://livejournal.com/users/pandoras_closet
http://aberdawnknights.keenspace.com
http://www.fanfiction.net/~pandorascloset
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'