StudioPC
19th February 2005, 07:45 AM
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon is the creation of Nakao Takeuchi, the concept
of Spider-Man by Stan Lee. Related characters and concepts by Marvel
Comics. No money is being made from this and no such intent is to be
inferred.
"No . . ." Usagi backed away. "No."
"Oh yes, Usagi. It's me. Your dear cousin, Naru, come to say hello."
"No . . ." Usagi shook her head vehemently. "This isn't real. You're
some kind of fake."
Naru walked towards them, matching Usagi for each step that the blonde
took backwards. "A fake? That's it? Where's the Tsukino wit we all know
and love? Where's the insults and that tireless self-confidence?" The
brown-haired girl's smile was sadistic. "Everyone told you, Usagi. One
of these days, you'll mess up. One of these days, all your screwing
around is going backfire. Well today's the day. I'm the enemy, Usagi.
Been the enemy for months now."
"No . . ."
"No, no, no, no. God, Usagi, its like a broken record. Here I am, set
to gloat and sneer, and you're hanging from the arms of your friends
like a limp dishrag and possessing a one word vocabulary. How pathetic
is that?"
"Why, Naru?" Ami demanded. "Why betray us like this? What did Beryl
offer you?"
"Recognition," Naru said, spreading her hands. "Recognition for my
brains and my skills instead of being Usagi's second pair of hands. It
should have been me! Me! For the past three years, Ami, its all Usagi.
All these obscure references, intricate pranks, everything has to have
a message. God, its like she's some kind of social crusader sometimes.
Not that it wasn't fun, but we always had to do her ideas, her way of
doing things. I made them work, Ami. I took most of the risks and what
did I get? NOTHING and I'm tired of it! So I went to work for Beryl. I
get recognition and she doesn't give a damn how I do it."
"We have to get Usagi out of here," Flash whispered. "Take her and
climb a wall. You're the fastest, and don't have to transform, get her
someplace safe. I'll cover you." Flash shoved Usagi at Ami and then
took out her wand. "Jupiter Power, MAKE UP!" Lightning flashed and
thunder roared and Jupiter thrust out her hand. "SUPREME THUNDER!"
"Lightning," Naru sneered as the bolt spattered harmlessly against some
invisible wall. "Against someone with powers of magnetism? Please." She
gestured and Jupiter suddenly found herself hanging in mid-hair by her
chest. Usagi fell and hit the sidewalk and Ami floated down to hover
next to Jupiter.
"Under-wire?" Jupiter asked and Ami blushed.
"Aunt Mai said I had too."
"Figures, fucked over by our underwear."
They felt themselves spinning until they were looking at Naru upside
down. "Ah," Naru gloated, "The joys of being a B cup."
Jupiter scowled. "Look, I aint no damn conversationalist. You gonna
finish us off, get on with it."
"Oh, I suppose. Its no fun since Usagi is a blob on the sidewalk." Naru
raised her hand and at that moment, something huge and green dropped
out of the sky and Ami felt herself bouncing and skidding on the
sidewalk.
Blackness fell.
---------
Ami awoke in a dark room. As her eyes quickly adjusted, she realized
that she was back in Banterman's Operating Room. Nearby, Usagi and
Flash lay on cots.
'How did we get back here?' Ami wondered. She slid off her cot and
padded softly out of the room. The hallway was darkened save for light
from a door at the other end. She moved closer and heard voices
speaking in English.
'The wall,' Mercury said and Ami scaled the wall, crawling over to the
doorframe and eased herself down until her eyes cleared the doorframe.
The room was some kind of office. Banterman sat behind a massive desk
while Veronica was perched at the desk's edge. On a small sofa, two men
sat side by side. One was big and burly with an eye patch over one eye.
An unlit cigar was clamped between his teeth and he held a beer. The
other man was whiplash lean, with dark hair that was flicked with gray
and a pencil thin mustache. He wore dark blue slacks and a long sleeved
shirt. A tie and suit jacket, along with a hat and a dark green coat
hung on a rack. He wore gloves and held a glass of wine. He looked
familiar. Ami was sure she'd seen him before.
"Banner, are you telling me Sailor Moon is heir apparent to the company
that right now, is all that's keeping Japan from economic collapse? And
that she's a raving loony?"
"She is not the heir, Nick," the slender man said. "Japanese
inheritance laws are different, much different than in America. Given
that Kenji Tsukino is something of a conservative, Ms Tsukino's younger
brother is far more likely to inherit their father's empire."
Nick glared at the slender man. "And I suppose you're going to tell me
that she's not a raving loony either?"
"I've read the file, Nick," the slender man replied. "I was quite
impressed that your agents even included her sizes, right down to her
underwear."
"Strange, I don't got time for your intellectual snideness," Banterman
interrupted. "You and Fury can argue later."
"What's the matter, Bruce?" Fury said. "I thought you liked Japan."
Banterman scowled. "Not when S.H.I.E.L.D. shanghaied me into it. Let me
remind you, Fury, I'm only here because you promised to get Ross and
his goons off my back for good and to get me a full pardon."
"Bruce and I want to be left alone," Veronica interjected. "No army, no
S.H.I.E.L.D, and no nosy government watchdogs. We want to be ourselves,
under our real names, and left alone."
"A Delta is never alone," Strange murmured and sipped his wine. "Reed,
Tony, Charlie, and I are always with you."
"Don't pull the frat mysticism crap with me, Strange," Banterman
snapped, jabbing a thick finger at Strange. "It's been too damn long
since Delta House for that too work."
"Worth a try," Strange said with a shrug. "What makes you so sure
Tsukino is Sailor Moon?" Veronica slid off the desk and handed Strange
a file, who set aside the wine and opened the folder. "By the Moons of
Maggorath," Strange gasped out a moment later. "You think she
deliberately did this?"
"Not to herself," Banterman said. "But she let it happen and then came
to me, just to see if the stories were true. It's the only thing I can
think of that makes any sense."
Fury took the file from Strange, whose face was pale and had taken his
glass of wine in shaking hands. "May Allora's hands preserve us," he
said softly.
"Maybe it's some kind of psych thing. Schizophrenia or something," Fury
growled. "Kid's got moxie. Hell, if her Daddy doesn't want her, I'll
take her. S.H.E.I.L.D. could use someone with this much ice in their
veins."
"Your empathy overwhelms me, Nicolas," Strange said acidly. "Do try to
rein in your compassion."
Fury shrugged. "I'm a simple man, Strange," he said. "I didn't get to
where I am by holding hands and singing Kumbya."
Strange paced, looking agitated. "This isn't right, this isn't what I
foresaw."
"What did you forsee?" Banterman snapped, resting both elbows on the
desk.
"Yeah, Strange," Fury said. "Why don't you drop the mystic crap and
play it straight. You said the fate of the world was at stake, and that
we needed Banner to pull it off. Richards and Stark both vouched for
you, which is the only reason I agreed to this cockamamie scheme."
Strange sighed. "Gentlemen . . . Nick, Bruce, neither one of you are
men of faith and what I have to say sounds bizzare enough to me . . . I
can only tell you what I know, whether or not it is true . . . I choose
to believe it is. Will you accept that?
Fury cracked open another beer and Banterman leaned back in his chair.
"All right, Stephen," he said. "Let's hear it."
Strange stood in the middle of the room. "Does the term Antediluvian
mean anything to you?"
Fury stared blankly, and Banterman's face scrunched up in thought. It
was Veronica who answered. "Isn't it . . . I mean, it refers to the
"first civilization"? The one before the Mayans and Egyptians, and the
like?"
"Close enough. Persia, Lemuria, Atlantis, what we know today as China
and Egypt, all came from the Kingdom of Usaga, which built it's capital
in what we now know as Antartica some eighty thousand to a hundred
thousand years ago. According to my research, the Usagans tamed the
continent, which was far more tropical back then and built a
civilization of which even the Shi'ar and the Kree would be envious.
Eventually, they made it to the moon through a series of . . . warp
gates would be the best term, and from there, the rest of the solar
system. This began what would be known as the Silver Millennium, under
the guidance of the Queen, who ruled from a great palace on the moon
known as the Moon Kingdom. From what I've been able to determine, the
Moon Kingdom had split from Usaga by that point, though they remained
friends."
"Hold up," Fury said. "You trying to tell me there's people on the
moon?"
"No. Humans have no presence on the moon. The Silver Millennium was
just that. A Millennium. It, along with Lemuria and Atlantis was
destroyed in the Fall."
"And the Fall was because . . ." Banner pressed.
"She's called Metallia. Supposedly she had another name before her
exile, but I don't know what it was. What I do know is that she craved
Usaga's power and seduced one of it's nobles, Beryl by name, into
darkness. Beryl, a tactical genius, smashed the other great
civilizations of the age and sent the survivors scattering. Lemuria,
built in a volcanic crater, was buried, Atlantis, sunk. Persia, Egypt,
China, forced to flee to Mesopotamia, to attempt to rebuild."
"Which is why we call Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization," Banner
finished.
"Right," Strange said. "Beryl then turned her attention to her homeland
and the Moon Kingdom. She undermined Usaga and corrupted four of the
Moon Kingdom's high command. They, in turn, let her forces through the
warp gates . . ."
"And the Moon Kingdom fell," Veronica finished.
"Yes," Strange said. "It fell, taking Beryl and her forces with it. But
before they did, the Queen of the Moon Kingdom worked one last . . .
spell, you could say and banished Metallia, without her, there was
nothing." Strange took a deep breath. "Here on Earth, the survivors had
their own troubles and the need for history fell by the wayside. Within
centuries, only legends remained."
"Then how do you know what happened?" Banner demanded.
"The few survivors of Atlantis and Lemuria banded together and kept the
secrets and skills alive, passing them from generation to generation.
Then En Sabah Nur came, and with him the Second Rising."
"Which is?" Fury asked.
"Every Usagan had certain superhuman abilities. Some were minor, others
major. Some sort of evolutionary jump brought on by either their
technology or skill with magic."
"Oh, shit, you're talking about mutants," Banner growled.
Strange nodded. "Nur was the first, but there are others, more all the
time. For whatever reason, Usaga is being reborn and the Moon Princess
can't be far behind. The Moon Kingdom was born from Usaga, after all."
"You think Tsukino is the key," Fury mused.
"Now that we know her name, yes. Sailor Moon, Usagi. The Moon Kingdom,
Usaga, Sailor Moon, it's not a coincidence. If she's not the Moon
Princess, she is the key to finding her." He looked at Banner. "And
that is why I wanted you, Bruce. The Moon Princess was reputed to be
the most powerful of all her kind, and there is nothing that can stand
against you. If she turns out to be a tyrant, or worse, falls under
Nur's influence, you're our only hope."
-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://www.geocities.com/studio_pc_hub/
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of Spider-Man by Stan Lee. Related characters and concepts by Marvel
Comics. No money is being made from this and no such intent is to be
inferred.
"No . . ." Usagi backed away. "No."
"Oh yes, Usagi. It's me. Your dear cousin, Naru, come to say hello."
"No . . ." Usagi shook her head vehemently. "This isn't real. You're
some kind of fake."
Naru walked towards them, matching Usagi for each step that the blonde
took backwards. "A fake? That's it? Where's the Tsukino wit we all know
and love? Where's the insults and that tireless self-confidence?" The
brown-haired girl's smile was sadistic. "Everyone told you, Usagi. One
of these days, you'll mess up. One of these days, all your screwing
around is going backfire. Well today's the day. I'm the enemy, Usagi.
Been the enemy for months now."
"No . . ."
"No, no, no, no. God, Usagi, its like a broken record. Here I am, set
to gloat and sneer, and you're hanging from the arms of your friends
like a limp dishrag and possessing a one word vocabulary. How pathetic
is that?"
"Why, Naru?" Ami demanded. "Why betray us like this? What did Beryl
offer you?"
"Recognition," Naru said, spreading her hands. "Recognition for my
brains and my skills instead of being Usagi's second pair of hands. It
should have been me! Me! For the past three years, Ami, its all Usagi.
All these obscure references, intricate pranks, everything has to have
a message. God, its like she's some kind of social crusader sometimes.
Not that it wasn't fun, but we always had to do her ideas, her way of
doing things. I made them work, Ami. I took most of the risks and what
did I get? NOTHING and I'm tired of it! So I went to work for Beryl. I
get recognition and she doesn't give a damn how I do it."
"We have to get Usagi out of here," Flash whispered. "Take her and
climb a wall. You're the fastest, and don't have to transform, get her
someplace safe. I'll cover you." Flash shoved Usagi at Ami and then
took out her wand. "Jupiter Power, MAKE UP!" Lightning flashed and
thunder roared and Jupiter thrust out her hand. "SUPREME THUNDER!"
"Lightning," Naru sneered as the bolt spattered harmlessly against some
invisible wall. "Against someone with powers of magnetism? Please." She
gestured and Jupiter suddenly found herself hanging in mid-hair by her
chest. Usagi fell and hit the sidewalk and Ami floated down to hover
next to Jupiter.
"Under-wire?" Jupiter asked and Ami blushed.
"Aunt Mai said I had too."
"Figures, fucked over by our underwear."
They felt themselves spinning until they were looking at Naru upside
down. "Ah," Naru gloated, "The joys of being a B cup."
Jupiter scowled. "Look, I aint no damn conversationalist. You gonna
finish us off, get on with it."
"Oh, I suppose. Its no fun since Usagi is a blob on the sidewalk." Naru
raised her hand and at that moment, something huge and green dropped
out of the sky and Ami felt herself bouncing and skidding on the
sidewalk.
Blackness fell.
---------
Ami awoke in a dark room. As her eyes quickly adjusted, she realized
that she was back in Banterman's Operating Room. Nearby, Usagi and
Flash lay on cots.
'How did we get back here?' Ami wondered. She slid off her cot and
padded softly out of the room. The hallway was darkened save for light
from a door at the other end. She moved closer and heard voices
speaking in English.
'The wall,' Mercury said and Ami scaled the wall, crawling over to the
doorframe and eased herself down until her eyes cleared the doorframe.
The room was some kind of office. Banterman sat behind a massive desk
while Veronica was perched at the desk's edge. On a small sofa, two men
sat side by side. One was big and burly with an eye patch over one eye.
An unlit cigar was clamped between his teeth and he held a beer. The
other man was whiplash lean, with dark hair that was flicked with gray
and a pencil thin mustache. He wore dark blue slacks and a long sleeved
shirt. A tie and suit jacket, along with a hat and a dark green coat
hung on a rack. He wore gloves and held a glass of wine. He looked
familiar. Ami was sure she'd seen him before.
"Banner, are you telling me Sailor Moon is heir apparent to the company
that right now, is all that's keeping Japan from economic collapse? And
that she's a raving loony?"
"She is not the heir, Nick," the slender man said. "Japanese
inheritance laws are different, much different than in America. Given
that Kenji Tsukino is something of a conservative, Ms Tsukino's younger
brother is far more likely to inherit their father's empire."
Nick glared at the slender man. "And I suppose you're going to tell me
that she's not a raving loony either?"
"I've read the file, Nick," the slender man replied. "I was quite
impressed that your agents even included her sizes, right down to her
underwear."
"Strange, I don't got time for your intellectual snideness," Banterman
interrupted. "You and Fury can argue later."
"What's the matter, Bruce?" Fury said. "I thought you liked Japan."
Banterman scowled. "Not when S.H.I.E.L.D. shanghaied me into it. Let me
remind you, Fury, I'm only here because you promised to get Ross and
his goons off my back for good and to get me a full pardon."
"Bruce and I want to be left alone," Veronica interjected. "No army, no
S.H.I.E.L.D, and no nosy government watchdogs. We want to be ourselves,
under our real names, and left alone."
"A Delta is never alone," Strange murmured and sipped his wine. "Reed,
Tony, Charlie, and I are always with you."
"Don't pull the frat mysticism crap with me, Strange," Banterman
snapped, jabbing a thick finger at Strange. "It's been too damn long
since Delta House for that too work."
"Worth a try," Strange said with a shrug. "What makes you so sure
Tsukino is Sailor Moon?" Veronica slid off the desk and handed Strange
a file, who set aside the wine and opened the folder. "By the Moons of
Maggorath," Strange gasped out a moment later. "You think she
deliberately did this?"
"Not to herself," Banterman said. "But she let it happen and then came
to me, just to see if the stories were true. It's the only thing I can
think of that makes any sense."
Fury took the file from Strange, whose face was pale and had taken his
glass of wine in shaking hands. "May Allora's hands preserve us," he
said softly.
"Maybe it's some kind of psych thing. Schizophrenia or something," Fury
growled. "Kid's got moxie. Hell, if her Daddy doesn't want her, I'll
take her. S.H.E.I.L.D. could use someone with this much ice in their
veins."
"Your empathy overwhelms me, Nicolas," Strange said acidly. "Do try to
rein in your compassion."
Fury shrugged. "I'm a simple man, Strange," he said. "I didn't get to
where I am by holding hands and singing Kumbya."
Strange paced, looking agitated. "This isn't right, this isn't what I
foresaw."
"What did you forsee?" Banterman snapped, resting both elbows on the
desk.
"Yeah, Strange," Fury said. "Why don't you drop the mystic crap and
play it straight. You said the fate of the world was at stake, and that
we needed Banner to pull it off. Richards and Stark both vouched for
you, which is the only reason I agreed to this cockamamie scheme."
Strange sighed. "Gentlemen . . . Nick, Bruce, neither one of you are
men of faith and what I have to say sounds bizzare enough to me . . . I
can only tell you what I know, whether or not it is true . . . I choose
to believe it is. Will you accept that?
Fury cracked open another beer and Banterman leaned back in his chair.
"All right, Stephen," he said. "Let's hear it."
Strange stood in the middle of the room. "Does the term Antediluvian
mean anything to you?"
Fury stared blankly, and Banterman's face scrunched up in thought. It
was Veronica who answered. "Isn't it . . . I mean, it refers to the
"first civilization"? The one before the Mayans and Egyptians, and the
like?"
"Close enough. Persia, Lemuria, Atlantis, what we know today as China
and Egypt, all came from the Kingdom of Usaga, which built it's capital
in what we now know as Antartica some eighty thousand to a hundred
thousand years ago. According to my research, the Usagans tamed the
continent, which was far more tropical back then and built a
civilization of which even the Shi'ar and the Kree would be envious.
Eventually, they made it to the moon through a series of . . . warp
gates would be the best term, and from there, the rest of the solar
system. This began what would be known as the Silver Millennium, under
the guidance of the Queen, who ruled from a great palace on the moon
known as the Moon Kingdom. From what I've been able to determine, the
Moon Kingdom had split from Usaga by that point, though they remained
friends."
"Hold up," Fury said. "You trying to tell me there's people on the
moon?"
"No. Humans have no presence on the moon. The Silver Millennium was
just that. A Millennium. It, along with Lemuria and Atlantis was
destroyed in the Fall."
"And the Fall was because . . ." Banner pressed.
"She's called Metallia. Supposedly she had another name before her
exile, but I don't know what it was. What I do know is that she craved
Usaga's power and seduced one of it's nobles, Beryl by name, into
darkness. Beryl, a tactical genius, smashed the other great
civilizations of the age and sent the survivors scattering. Lemuria,
built in a volcanic crater, was buried, Atlantis, sunk. Persia, Egypt,
China, forced to flee to Mesopotamia, to attempt to rebuild."
"Which is why we call Mesopotamia the cradle of civilization," Banner
finished.
"Right," Strange said. "Beryl then turned her attention to her homeland
and the Moon Kingdom. She undermined Usaga and corrupted four of the
Moon Kingdom's high command. They, in turn, let her forces through the
warp gates . . ."
"And the Moon Kingdom fell," Veronica finished.
"Yes," Strange said. "It fell, taking Beryl and her forces with it. But
before they did, the Queen of the Moon Kingdom worked one last . . .
spell, you could say and banished Metallia, without her, there was
nothing." Strange took a deep breath. "Here on Earth, the survivors had
their own troubles and the need for history fell by the wayside. Within
centuries, only legends remained."
"Then how do you know what happened?" Banner demanded.
"The few survivors of Atlantis and Lemuria banded together and kept the
secrets and skills alive, passing them from generation to generation.
Then En Sabah Nur came, and with him the Second Rising."
"Which is?" Fury asked.
"Every Usagan had certain superhuman abilities. Some were minor, others
major. Some sort of evolutionary jump brought on by either their
technology or skill with magic."
"Oh, shit, you're talking about mutants," Banner growled.
Strange nodded. "Nur was the first, but there are others, more all the
time. For whatever reason, Usaga is being reborn and the Moon Princess
can't be far behind. The Moon Kingdom was born from Usaga, after all."
"You think Tsukino is the key," Fury mused.
"Now that we know her name, yes. Sailor Moon, Usagi. The Moon Kingdom,
Usaga, Sailor Moon, it's not a coincidence. If she's not the Moon
Princess, she is the key to finding her." He looked at Banner. "And
that is why I wanted you, Bruce. The Moon Princess was reputed to be
the most powerful of all her kind, and there is nothing that can stand
against you. If she turns out to be a tyrant, or worse, falls under
Nur's influence, you're our only hope."
-Steve "Komodo" T.
http://www.geocities.com/studio_pc_hub/
.---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 -----'