Title: SIU - The Sailor Investigation Unit Part 33 Author: Dark Day For Anime (Mark A Page) Email: ayanami@merlin.net.au ICQ: 9845111 IRC: Saitou^Hajime on DALnet #AJAS Fic Rating: R -------------------------------------------------------------------- S.I.U. - The Sailor Investigation Unit by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page) Disclaimer - all characters pertaining to the series Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon and Silent Mobius are owned by Takeuchi Naoko, Kia Asamiya, Michitaka Kikuchi, Bandai, Studio Tron, Kadokawa and Kodansya. All other characters were thought up by me. -------------------------------------------------------------------- It all happened in a matter of seconds. Amaki had placed both of his arms around the girl and tried to lick her ear, when his arms fell onto the floor in a spray of blood. The girl was standing back from him, holding a pair of bloodied fans, a vicious expression on her face. It was a couple of seconds before both Amaki and the conductor realised that the unfortunate pervert no longer had any arms. Before Amaki could scream out in pain and terror, the girl had taken his head clean off, watching with satisfaction as it bounced off the seat and rolled onto the floor. Amaki's body continued to stand for a few seconds more, fountaining blood from the stump of a neck, before it fell like a puppet whose strings had been cut. With a flourish, the girl slapped the fans shut and whipped them back into the sleeves of her kimono. She then looked up at the conductor and smiled, leaving him in no doubt as to what he SHOULDN'T do at that point. She picked up Amaki's briefcase, still standing against the seat where he had left it, and handed it to the conductor. "So terribly sorry to have messed up your train, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, and I truly cannot abide by perverts. What about you?" She stared at the man, smiling sweetly as he failed to answer, not really knowing how to answer in such a situation. "Ah, yes, I see you're not one used to such violent behaviour. I apologise if I've upset you, or anything. It was my upbringing, you see...." She giggled and turned her head to the windows as she saw the approach of a station. "Ah, this looks like my stop." She turned back to the conductor and bowed, slightly. "Konbanwa." "K... konbanwa." The conductor replied as the train came to a halt at the station. The girl trotted over to the door and waited as they opened up to the platform. She then alighted and disappeared into the night. yes, the conductor had seen many things in his years of service. This one was going to make, at the very least, an entire chapter, if he ever got round to writing up his memoirs. ----o Part Thirtythree Purity of Blood ----o Gigelf placed his hands upon the floor of the dais, and whispered words known only to himself. Lysithea watched from the centre of the Grand Hall as the entire room erupted into a succession of circled hexagrams, rolling around the hall, then forming one giant hexagram over the top of the dais, centering on Gigelf himself. With another flash, Gigelf stood, energy blowing the billowing folds of his robes around him. The hexagram disappeared in an instant. Gigelf stood back as the energies died down, breathing heavily. "The place is set. The door shall open here...." He turned as a pair of altars rose from the middle of the dais, stopping at a predetermined height as he rested against the main altar, feeling decidedly ill. "Now go.... Prepare West for the ceremony...." He waved in Lysithea's direction, who nodded and leaned down to pick up Carey's body from the floor. At that moment, Lysithea registered the presence of another in the Grand Hall. He ignored her, knowing the confrontation that was to come between Gigelf and Fuyuka. Hazuki Fuyuka, the raven-haired beauty whose family had been one of the founding members of the Coven, and the woman whom the Coven had betrothed to Gigelf, was not one to be trifled with, as the hapless mage had found out to his chagrin. She did NOT agree with the method the Coven had chosen to open the door between the dimensions of Earth and Nemesis. Not that she could do much about it, especially in terms of dissuading the High Council of the Coven from this path. The one person she DID have control over was Gigelf, for Fuyuka knew Gigelf better than anyone, including Gigelf Liqueur. He hauled Carey into his arms and stood, trying to avoid Fuyuka's gaze as he approached the doorway, running her gauntlet as he strode past her. her eyes were like laserbeams in his back as he left the Hall.... He could, almost, feel the pain.... Fuyuka gave up on Lysithea fairly quickly. She knew better than to try and remonstrate with him. He was nothing, in her eyes, but a parasite on Gigelf, and more.... He was one truly dedicated to the opening up of the doorway.... A truly committed servant of the Coven. It was impossible to deal with the kind of reckless idealism that existed within the likes of he. She turned back to Gigelf, who hadn't moved from the moment he had rested against the main altar, not even as much as registering her presence. Fuyuka was concerned at the energy he was expending to complete his task, physical, spiritual and mental. This failure to register her was a sure sign that he was collapsing under the pressure. At least, to her keen eyes, this was what it appeared to be. She took a few steps towards the dais, watching Gigelf, his figure, bent double over the altar, almost shabby and disheveled.... She could feel him, collapsing inwards.... She had read it in the cards.... They told her everything, about their relationship, about their destiny.... There were times she wished she didn't have the gift. They told her too much. "You wished to speak with me?" His tired voice echoed around the hall. At least he wasn't a complete basket case. "You really intend to kill that woman for our purposes?" She leveled her gaze as he turned to face her. His eyes appeared sunken in his pale face. "Her and another. Is that the price you want to pay for achieving our founders' goal?" "Their sacrifice... is worth it. You insult your forefathers by questioning the methods." ----o "Unit Three to Control Central, we have secured our allotted sector. Fifteen dead, no casualties from our side. Over." "Control Central to Unit Two, are you in sight of the Sacred House Compound main building? Over." "Unit Two.... We have the main building in sight.... Everything looks open from here. Over." "Control Central to all Units, begin moving into the Compound in five minutes. Eliminate all in your way. Over." ----o "G.... Go is dead?" Aoi sat in the front passenger seat of Kaji's car, as stunned as he. "That's what.... Ariamu told me.... Shimazaki went to his house not that long ago after he'd gone missing from the station.... They think Katarin might have had something to do with the murder of Mizuno's mother. He might have even killed her, himself, and ran afterwards." Aoi swallowed as Kaji slammed his door shut, more forcefully than was really necessary. He leaned back in his seat, staring at the roof. "The links that this case has.... It's getting more complicated by the moment.... This whole thing is more than just a murder of a Sailorsenshi.... If the information that Shimazaki was given by Katarin before his death, then this whole mess involves the Shiranui Yakuza...." "So where do the Sacred House and the Coven of Atrocity fit in?" Aoi asked, quietly. Kaji thought this over for a few moments. "We're talking about a Yakuza family, here.... A group that has a network of connections to business, government and a variety of other organisations that can operate as effective forms of money gathering. Both the House and the Coven would be registered as religious movements in Japan, and therefore nominally immune from the scrutiny of the tax department.... The Yakuza and various other criminal organisations have been using religion as a tax dodge for years, and there is little, if anything, that the authorities can do about it as long as they keep up the front of being official religions.... Hell, I've investigated money laundering schemes that have involved cults that worship nothing more substantial than a lump of rock discovered in the founder's front garden...." "Are you trying to say that organisations as old and powerful enough to hide themselves completely from public view, despite their size, are nothing more than fake cults founded for financial purposes?" "I don't know if the average member thinks of them in this capacity. Someone who is dedicated to what appears to be a worthy cause can blind themselves to the truth of the organisation's management.... And if an arm of that organisation is attacked, in any way, by an extraneous force, then the reaction of such a powerful body would be to hunt down and destroy that force.... In this case, the Sailorsenshi." "So the Shiranui Yakuza is just an arm of something greater?" "Hmm.... Not so much an arm, considering the size of the Shiranui. By taking on the Shiranui Yakuza, the Sailorsenshi attacked a fairly central part of a larger body. Shimazaki was sent a message, by Katarin, that Shiranui Kimi was somehow involved in the murder of Kino Makoto...." "More intimated than explicit." Aoi rubbed her forehead. "All this is giving me a headache." "Yes, well, I sincerely doubt that Kino's murder was the preserve of the Shiranui Leader's daughter. Shiranui Midan is not beyond using his own child as a vehicle for the needs of whatever power it is that has kept his family in control for this long...." ----o "And you insult me by bringing them to my notice." Fuyuka spat, words that struck Gigelf with the force of a whip. "I am not here to argue the virtues of my ancestors, Gigelf.... For they, too, would be horrified that we are partaking in this travesty, an orgy of murder, not only of the two unfortunates whom you shall sacrifice upon the commencement of the ceremony, but those who exist within the walls of the Sacred House." "They are, and always will be, even if they are our brethren." Gigelf sighed. "There are many within the Sacred House who are kept under lock and key. By doing this, we shall free them." "Have you never thought of WHY they are kept under lock and key?" Fuyuka threw her hands in the air. "They are dangerous, Gigelf. They are crossbreeds with the very lowest forms of the Lucifer Folk.... Beings which are more decerebrate monster than intelligent lifeform...." Gigelf paused, closing his eyes. "I cannot believe what I'm hearing from you, Fuyuka.... You sound like a member of the Sacred House.... Your words are a product of their philosophies." "Maybe they are.... I'm still a member of the Coven, I shall always be a member of the Coven. But freedom for our kind cannot be at the cost of the lives of others, at the deaths of our very souls...." Fuyuka looked around searching for her words. "Can't there be a middle ground, upon which both the House and the Coven can step?" "Reunification of the two movements, you mean?" Gigelf chuckled. "I seem to remember that happening, many times in our long histories. Remember the Kyoto Pact of five hundred years ago? How long did that last? Come on, you can tell me...." "Three months.... So what? This is a crossroads we are talking about, Gigelf.... This isn't like Kyoto of five hundred years ago.... This is now, an age where we can totally annihilate each other with mutual pleasure." "All the better, then, that we finally break the deadlock, is it not. Once we have opened the doorway, the pettiness of human conflict shall end. We will create a new era." Gigelf shook his head, sadly. "There will be no messiah for us to follow, Fuyuka my dear. We must make our own destiny.... Even if it be the wrong one." ----o "The monster was ME, and I LIKED the monster.... It wanted me to KILL.... TO KILL...." Miki backed away in wide-eyed fear as Makoto advanced on her, once more. "You have GOT to be KIDDING?" She said, half-facefaulted. "That is so.... So cliched...." "Oh? Really?" Makoto giggled. "The others are just starting to find out what monsters lie within them. Venus has already started down the track.... Mercury has been reformed into a beast... Saturn is recovering into one...." Makoto raised her head and laughed. "Monsters exist within us, because each and every one of us were born into the right families.... Family lines that contain the genetics of beasts.... Beasts from a world where magic is indistinguishable from science.... Nay, it is even a form of nature.... A world where solid forms and bodies are despised, for blood is the natural form, and the container of all magic." She stared into her right hand, then lifted it up to her mouth. Miki was contemplating the pinch method of waking up, as she watched Makoto bite heavily into her hand, tearing away at the flesh with her teeth. Blood poured from the rends, then started to circle her form, droplets spinning in orbits as they emerged. Miki watched the grisly pattern with a mixture of awe and nausea. Makoto lifted her hand away from her mouth, licking the blood from her lips. "I love the blood." She whispered. "It is OUR form. OUR being.... This pitiful vessel within which I was born.... I despise it so much.... I want to unify, and spread, across the planet, with the blood of others.... But because I am grounded into this form, I cannot...." "What are you?" Miki swallowed. "You Sailorsenshi? Just what are you all?" "A question I might ask of you, Watanabe Miki...." Makoto smiled. "After all, it wasn't because you had the powers of a Sailorsenshi that my Heart Crystal chose to meld with you...." ----o "Unit two to Control Central.... Have gained access to the West Wing.... Have not met with any major resistance.... Moving through into the maintenance storerooms, over...." ----o "Well, I think you can safely assume that she used the train to get here...." Haruka took a breath as she watched the ambulance officers carrying away Amaki's remains on a covered stretcher, in a secluded corner of the railway station's carpark. "Whatever the case, we can assume that she alighted from the train a few stops earlier.... It would have taken the conductor who saw her kill the man a little while to alert the driver of the train." Michiru crossed her arms as she turned to Haruka. "Well, I don't think we should stand on the railway station roof all night. It's not only cold in a senshi fuku, it's also rather wet.... Not that I mind getting wet or anything, I can think of better places...." She chuckled as Haruka facefaulted. Seconds later Uranus and Neptune made a rapid exit. ----o "What do you mean, the compound is under siege? That's impossible!" Gen stared down the subordinate who had brought him the news, then started to pace through Carey's office, hands behind his back. "No, not impossible." Joachim crossed his arms as he stared down through the still shattered main windows, down at the Operations control room, where various messages of distress were coming in from across the Sacred House compound, met with total chaos and confusion by those trying to deal with it. "The Security System, a large portion of it, was generated by Carey herself." Joachim adjusted his cloak and doffed his wide-brimmed hat, turning to Gen. "I dare suggest that an evacuation of the compound might be in order." "Ridiculous! RIDICULOUS!" Gen threw his hands into the air. "After all these years, to simply abandon the Sacred House? With everything we have in here? Never!" "Otosama...." Naoko, who had been sitting in the corner of the office, having received an earbashing from her father after the affair with Usagi, stood and clutched the sleeve of her father's traditional dress. "With Carey gone.... We can't... We can't..." "NO!" He snapped at her. She backed away, stunned at his ferocity. Seeing the fear in her eyes, he softened, slightly. "Naoko-chan.... What was the basic tenet you were taught by the educators, from the moment you were born?" "The.... the Sacred House is my home.... It is the House of my soul, and must be protected at all costs...." Naoko turned as she felt someone take her arm. She was met with Jacquie's smile. "Protected at all costs." Jacquie placed a hand upon Naoko's. "Remember all the times we had to repeat that, together, with all of our friends?" Naoko swallowed at Jacquie's words, her face dropping. "They're just words, though...." Her voice was almost imperceptible. "This is reality.... This is the truth.... The only home I have ever known...." "It IS a dramatic change, however...." Joachim crossed his arms. "A change in the way the Coven have acted, all these years." "What do you mean?" Gen frowned. "Usually, they'd try to take prisoners of Sacred House members. As we would of theirs.... For re-education, so to speak. It seems rather wasteful, on their part, that they'd be so willing to kill anyone on sight." "Perhaps the force that has been sent in is not entirely Coven. I would not put it past them." Gen shook his head. "To send in the JSDF or some other hired force.... It's too cliched and obvious an idea, even for the Coven to contemplate." "Then, perhaps those who are profiting from the Coven's existence, then, as many members of the Diet do from the existence of the Sacred House." Joachim chuckled, darkly. "The financing of a religion, or a form of religion.... A great way to escape the clutches of the tax office in this country." "What is he talking about, Otosama?" Naoko blinked at her father. Gen peered aside at her, then casually waved her aside. "There are many methods to fund the infrastructure of an organisation such as the Sacred House, Naoko-chan.... You may understand, one day." "If that day ever comes...." Naoko pulled herself closer to Jacquie for comfort. ----o "What are you trying to say?" Miki shivered. "That your Heart Crystal merged with mine because I am.... what YOU are?" "You have a lineage.... similar to my own." Makoto turned and looked upwards as her blood started to dance in strange, juggling movements, above her head. "A Dragon of Energy.... Perhaps.... Capable of emitting electrical discharge.... One of the reasons the spirit of Jupiter chose MY body to inhabit.... Now that body has been killed, the spirit had to find another of like abilities." "What spirit of Jupiter?" Miki started to feel dizzy. "The spirit of the original Sailorjupiter.... A being immeasurably older than you can imagine.... By a divine power of unknown origin, Jupiter was saved by the great Queen Serenity, and her spiritual energy cast into a body that was able to defend itself until she could, once more, come to the fore and take control...." Makoto' hands dropped, and the blood fell into a circle around her. "But that was not to be.... I was betrayed, before I could truly take control...." She smiled, bitterly. "Betrayed by those who have already accepted the darknesses of their physical forms into themselves." Miki wasn't listening to Makoto's musings, however. She was more concerned with her part in all of this. "But... Are you trying to tell me that some kind of monster exists within me?" She clenched her fists. "That's bullshit, my parents were human." "Oh, they both looked human enough, indeed.... But inside.... Inside.... Yes, it sometimes takes two of like blood to produce one of greater purity.... I believe your blood is of sufficient purity... for transformation to occur...." She flexed her fingers, and the circle of blood started to melt and reform, lines whizzing around the circle into figures and symbols.... A vast hexagram forming around her. "If that transformation is successful, I may, finally, be able to have my revenge upon those who killed me." "You intend to use my body.... For purposes of revenge?" Miki shook her head. "Never.... This is MY body.... I won't allow it!" Makoto giggled. "We shall she how long you keep that frame of mind, my dear.... Perhaps experiencing my death might change your views, what do you say?" Miki took a step back. "No...." She held up her hands as the blood hexagram was completed. A glow of energy rose from beneath Makoto's feet. Miki covered her eyes as the glow became unbearable. And then nothing. ----o "What do you want?" Mercury confronted the strange individual who had emerged from the limousine, a man, dressed in a full dinner suit. The car had first pulled alongside her, then across her path, up onto the footpath, as she wandered along the quiet street in a contemplative mood. Actually, she was contemplating whether she should raid the Japanese Reserve Bank at the time, so it was no great loss, and considering Japan was in recession, there probably wouldn't have been a hell of a lot for her to raid.... Anyway, the car blocked her path, which angered her a little, as she hated it when cars blocked her path. She'd always been too polite to say anything about it, but this time she ran around to the driver's door, wrenched it off the side of the car, pulled out the car's chauffeur and started laying into him with the kinds of attacks that would have done a professional wrestler proud. Before she could do too much damage to him, the strange passenger of the vehicle stepped out from the back, and interrupted her effort at chastising the transgressor of Mercury's unwritten laws. "Do you mind.... Drivers like he are extremely hard to find." The passenger placed a hand on her shoulder. She slapped the hand away and stood back several paces. From there, she interrogated him with the aforementioned question. "What do I want?" The passenger helped the hapless chauffeur to his feet. "Why, I want you, Sailormercury.... Or, let me put it this way.... I have been interested in employing you and your Sailor friends for quite some time.... I have need of your powers." "Need of MY powers, or the powers of my so-called friends?" She sniffed contemptuously. "They all think I'm weaker than they. Well, you know what I've done, tonight? You see all the destruction I've wreaked? They won't be calling THIS Sailorsenshi the weak link in the chain anymore." She put her hands on her hips and laughed maniacally. "Ano.... I didn't mean to express doubt in your abilities, Sailormercury. You are obviously VERY powerful.... But I have been keeping tabs on your activities, tonight.... And I wanted to say... I have NEED of someone like you...." "What for?" Mercury ranged up on the passenger and his chauffeur. The chauffeur cringed at her presence. "And who are you, anyway?" "I...." The passenger swallowed, using up as much of his reserves of bravery as charm. "I am Manakuto.... A highly esteemed member of the Diet Assembly, and of an organisation called the Coven of Atrocity...." "Coven of Atrocity?" Mercury rubbed her chin. "Sounds cool. Do you kill and maim lots of people for fun and profit?" "Ano...." There were times in Manakuto's career, as a master manipulator, where he genuinely began to worry about the things he would get himself into, most especially the people he had to associate with. END OF PART 33 -------------------------------------------------------------------- I begin the paragraphs with a lot of questions, don't I? ^_^;; Too many people not knowing what the hell is going on. I wonder if everyone who has read this story up to this point is having the same trouble.... Ah well. On to the next chapter, which is entitled "Ghost Lighter", named as such for no known reason other than that the large Mokona plushy that sits on my computer told me to. ^_^ You shall submit to the evil power of kawaiiness.... You shall say "PU".... @_@ _________ / @ \ DDFA (The Right Dishonourable Mark A Page) / / ^ ^ \ \ ayanami@merlin.net.au /\ Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of \/ \/ the Tapes and Co-Founder of the Saitou-chan \___________/ Appreciation Society - Adelaide Japanese /_/ \_\ PU Animation Society Version 1.0 - Tuesday October 27th 1998