B I S H O U J O S E N S H I S A I L O R M O O N A C R O S S T H E B O R D E R by DARK DAY FOR ANIME (Mark A Page) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer - This is a story containing characters who were created by anyone but me. That anyone would happen to be Takeuchi Naoko. Handle it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Usagi looked out of the window at the high point above. The skies were a beautiful azure blue, and the clouds light and fluffy.... She was almost tempted to take her notebook out of her backpack and start writing down some poetry. But this wasn't the time for artistic relection. The time was close to seven to nine. Time to move out! She turned to Rei and Ami, who nodded. Having packed all of their gear into their own backpacks, and dressed in their red and blue bodysuits (respectively) and black overcoats, they made to move out of the classroom that had been their home for the night. Usagi had been quicker than them in rising this morning, which was most unusual for her. As the veteran amongst the trio, she had always taken things a little more lightly than Ami or Rei, knowing well the limitations of their enemies. However, for some reason she felt a little nervous about what might follow. She flexed her fingers, remembering the dying screams of the man she had been ordered to dispose of yesterday. Just another one of the souls that haunted her, now. Shaking the thought from her mind, she fitted her backpack around her shoulders and knelt down to the floor, picking up a stick from the floor. Rei and Ami stood by the doorway, looking back at her, their eyes full of anticipation. Slowly, Usagi began to tap the stick on the floor. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.... They ran through the doorway into the corridor, turning left and making for the Principal's Office. Their pace was slower than normal, but they had rid themselves of some of those who had been following them the night before, so things weren't likely to get messy. They had earned this little benefit of their job. ----o Part One Orders to Kill ----o The Principal's Office was empty, as they expected. Rei was the first onto his desk, jumping up and pushing the ceiling tile away, exposing the hidden infrastructure beyond. Rei then reached down to Ami, grabbing her hand. Ami pushed herself up, by one leg, and was catapaulted through the gap. Rei repeated this action with Usagi, then followed herself, being careful to replace the tile after she found her balance on the roofing beam. The tile had to look only slightly smudged, or out of place, for their enemies to be able to follow the trail. It had happened before.... Rei had had friends and partners die through such small mistakes. Rei gave Ami and Usagi the thumbs up, and the three began to crawl along the beam, towards an access opening at the far end. Ami, reaching the access first, stopped and placed her ear against it. After a couple of taps, she put up a hand to the others, gesturing that she wasn't sure of how clean the opening was. Usagi and Rei looked at each other. Usagi signalled to the structure above. That way? Rei shook her head. There was another level there, blocking their path with a floor of concrete. Ami gestured a backtrack, but this time both Usagi and Rei gave her pained looks. Why the hell would they want to backtrack now? Ami shrugged and placed her right hand against the serviceway. Only one way to go, then. Ami fidgeted with the opening, and after a pause of preparation, she pulled it back. There was no explosion, nor the shot of a waiting sniper.... Not that a sniper would be so stupid as to fire straight away.... Ami reached into her jacket and pulled out a set of hi-tech goggles, then opened the serviceway door, adjusting the goggles to scan. This placed her life in danger for approximately twenty seconds as she made a sweep of the area. Nothing more than a small gap between two buildings, with various other buildings in the background. On top of one of those buildings, she saw a Dada Group in action. Civilians.... Might be difficult if they get caught in the crossfire. Apart from that, she saw nothing threatening. Ami gestured to her partners the situation, and gripped the top of the serviceway. With a thrust, she'd swung herself out onto the tiny ledge. From her backpack, she pulled out a grappling hook and cable, and swung it around. With a mighty throw, she pitched the hook at the edge of the roof. The hook held firm, and she gave Usagi and Rei the thumbs up. Time to move on. Ami clambered up the rope, slowly, followed by Usagi and Rei. She paused just before the top of the building, then adjusted her goggles once more, giving her over-the-horizon vision. The roof was clear. Below, as usagi began to ascend the rope, Rei closed the door to the accessway carefully, for the same reasons she replaced the ceiling tile. Holding onto the rope, she peered around, and spotted the Dada group, in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered her days with just such a group.... Growing up with her Grandfather, who had founded the group.... The parties, the art exhibitions, the violence, at times.... Rei swallowed hard and looked upwards. Usagi was almost at the roof edge. No time to think back on a childhood that shall never return.... Ami placed a handclamp onto the edge of the roof, allowing her to hang on without the need for the rope, and reached down to Usagi. Usagi put out her hand, and was flung over the edge of the roof, landing catlike on the concrete. She quickly made a recce of the roof area, moving out of Rei's way seconds later as the dark-haired girl landed in the exact same spot, in exactly the same manner. Rei then turned and helped Ami over. Within seconds, the rope and hook were wound back up, and Ami's goggles were connected to her belt. Rei checked the edge of the roof for any marks of their arrival. She cringed when she saw the tiny scratches where the grappling hook had been. "Gonna be a problem?" She gestured to Ami. The blue haired girl pursed her lips and shrugged. Their enemies could spot a lot of things, but many had passed this way before, so it might be possible that, if any were on their trail, they'd miss it. You gotta be kidding, Rei gestured. Some of theit enemies were almost as well trained and as well kitted as they were. Just one of those would be able to spot the marks and decide, for themselves, how recent they were. Ami shrugged again, it couldn't be helped, now. Rei shook her head as Usagi arrived at the cable bridge.... A fat cable that ran between the roof of this building and the higher one on the other side of the small school yard. On top of that building lay the High Point.... The place where their trail would end for anyone following.... Rei and Ami joined her, quickly. Ami flipped the goggles on again and scanned the area below them. She gave the thumbs up to her companions and replaced the goggles as Usagi whipped out a pair of hand grapplers, attching them to this end of the cable and checking its torsion. The cable felt solid in her efforts to bend it. That could mean one of two things.... It was tough enough to take their weight, or it would go the way of all solid objects and crumble. Well, there really was no turning back, now. Usagi stepped up onto the wall that lined that side of the roof, then stepped off. The cable creaked as she wrenched the grapplers, which slid along the cable with protest, tiny little wheel locks preventing her from sliding back down the cable's incline. Ami let out a breath of distaste as Usagi struggled along. This wasn't going to be easy. She followed Usagi's example, placing her grapplers onto the cable, then taking hold of them with her hands. After a couple of breaths, she stepped off the side. By this time, Usagi was at least ten feet ahead of her. She felt the blood rush to her legs, giving her instant pins and needles, hot pins and needles even, the worst kind. She hated hanging over long drops like this. Slowly, she wrestled the grapplers up the cable. Rei had been waiting, impatiently, for Ami to get moving. Whilst Ami was the gadget queen amongst the trio, her active skills left something to be desired, sometimes, and she was falling behind Usagi with each wrench of the grapplers. Rei gave the blue-haired girl some time.... She hated this, glancing around for their enemies. It was possible, if they had made the classroom by now, that they would see the trio making their way across the gap. It wasn't likely, all things considered, but in this line of work one should be prepared for any eventuation. After giving Ami some room, Rei then attached her grapplers to the cable. With even less fear than her companions, she leapt off the side of the building, making great strokes with the grapplers, swinging her legs in an effort to keep herself moving. Usagi reached the far end of the cable and gritted her teeth. Now came the REAL problem. Trying to swing one's legs over the side of THIS building, from the position of hanging over a precipice. Usagi struggled a couple of times. Even in the fit state she was in, this wasn't easy. It reminded her of the time she had had to do this between two skyscrapers. She was with a group of five, and two failed to make it over, both tiring and falling to their deaths. Usagi knew that, if she didn't get up, then both Ami and Rei could suffer the same fate. The thought of taking on the next assignment alone was enough to see her hook her right foot onto the tiny ledge. With strength born of a lifetime of training, than foot wrenched her up to the level of the wall. She pulled the grapplers forward and slipped the leg all the way over the wall, following it with her left. Now, in a slightly seated position, she was able to slip easily over the wall and onto the roof below. She detached her grapplers and quickly placed them in her backpack, scanning the rooftop for any assassins. She then turned back as Ami arrived at the wall, kicking her legs up in an effort to match Usagi's performance. Usagi reached over the wall and grabbed Ami's left leg, pulling the girl forward. Ami's breath was laboured and her face red. Usagi couldn't blame her. Ami always had a tremendous fear of heights. Ami had even fallen during her days of training, only to survive because of her own precaution of attaching a special bailout line. In terms of Assassin Cadets, it was considered cheating to preserve one's life in such a manner. Ami didn't care.... She was the only one in her class still alive today. Usagi grabbed Ami's right leg and pulled her right over the ledge. Ami then spun around, wrenching the grapplers forward and detaching them, whipping them into her backpack and collapsing against the wall, her eyes closed, sweat running down her face. Usagi looked at her with concern, tapping her on the shoulder. Ami gave Usagi the thumbs up signal and opened her eyes, smiling. Another day, another dice with death. Ami got to her feet and put on her goggles, looking around the rooftop with more accuracy than Usagi's quick scan as Usagi went to work on Rei, who had been waiting patiently behind Ami as the blue-haired girl was carted over. The roof seemed safe at first, but Ami spotted something that worried her.... She whistled as Usagi pulled Rei over the side, then clamped one fist down into the palm of her other hand. The rooftop was mined! Usagi and Rei looked at her worriedly as the girl counted. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.... Ami held up five fingers, telling the others what she could see. Usagi let out a breath, counting her lucky stars she didn't check this roof out like the other. Ami turned and checked the highpoint, a small roof access door with a window. She gave the access an OK signal, then turned towards a rooftop airconditioning unit, pointing to it as shelter. She ran behind it as Rei removed her grapplers and placed them in her backpack. After waiting a couple of moments for Rei to regain her breath, the two ran over to the unit, joining Ami, who was fiddling with a small box-like object. It had a clunky numbered dial and several switches. With her goggles resting on her forehead, she waited as the other two slipped in behind her, then started fiddling with the dial. After several attempts to generate and explosive frequency, there was a blast that knocked several feet of concrete from the points where each mine had been planted. Ami snapped her fingers, filled with the sense of victory. The device had been her own invention, and had saved the lives of many of the Republic's assassins. They thought they could hear cheers coming from all over the city and giggled. if only the civilians truly understood the depth of the seriousness of this situation. Almost all of them would never be able to understand.... Nor should they have to. For this trio, however, torn from similar backgrounds, that sense of innocent abandon was lost forever.... Their amusement now fading, Ami replaced the box into her overcoat and snapped her fingers in the direction of the access door. Rei nodded and made her way across to the door, tapping it and giving it the thumbs up. She then opened up the door and peered within, nodding to her satisfaction that it was safe.... After all, the only ones who would be able to cross this threshold would be them.... There was a cry from behind one of the small outcrops of ducting on the other end of the rooftop, and two figures emerged, one holding a weapon at the ready in one arm, and a wounded comrade with the other, hurt in the mine blasts. Rei quickly fell to the ground as Usagi pulled out her double-barrel revolver from her overcoat, leaping into the open. With two calm shots, she blew the heads of the assassins clean off their shoulders, and knelt there, in front of Rei, breathing heavily, a sense of pleasure and satisfaction running through the very core of her being.... There was nothing she enjoyed more than killing the enemy.... the cathartic element of simply pumping the bullets into their bodies... She checked herself. They were human beings, much like themselves, who had been similar torn from their innocent lives, but for very different reasons.... To bring down the Republic. Usagi got to her feet and replaced her revolver as Rei stood, smiling at her in cynical thanks. Usagi turned to her and shrugged. All in a day's work. Ami made her way over to the access door, joining the others, and they both peered into the small, dark stairwell that existed beyond. Both the walls and the stairs were covered in a plush black carpet, giving it a darkly welcoming appearance. And so it should be.... For the time being, it would be the safest place they were likely to experience.... Rei nodded to the others and leapt through the doorway, first. Well, nothing bad happened to her, thought Usagi, immediately cursing the thought that she had used Rei as a test to see if the Central Branch's security devices were faulty. Shaking her head, she made her way through and down the first small segment of stairs, stopping where Rei had stopped in wait, looking back up at her. Usagi turned and waited for Ami to follow, only to hear the girl let out a cry and come rolling down the stairs, ploughing into the two of them. After Usagi had managed to stand from the sprawl of bodies, she whipped out her revolver once more as shots ricocheted from the stairwell wall. The sound of feet running towards the entrance made her bring the weapon to bear. There was the sound of scrambling at the entrance, then a huge flash made her cover her eyes. With a short scream, their new attacker was reduced to paste against the carpet by a series of small laser beams that emanated from hidden ports within the carpet itself. Usagi let out a sigh of relief as the access door automatically closed, replacing her weapon and turning to Ami, who was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Gomen...." She finally muttered. "I only saw him at the last moment." "You're slipping up in your old age." Rei removed herself from underneath the blue-haired girl, glad that they could finally use their voices now that they were out of official "combat" territory. "Easy for you to say." Ami got to her feet, brushing herself down and wrenching her backpack from her shoulders. "I notice you didn't spot that pair, earlier." "It wasn't my job to." Rei huffed. "That's why you're here." "Enough of this." Usagi barked at them. "We made it, okay?" "Ah, I see you're in an argumentative mood, today." The voice echoed along the stairwell, and the trio whipped around, looking for its owner. "Who is that?" Rei demanded. "Oh really, girls. Don't you recognise my voice?" There was humour in the woman's tone, and realisation dawned on them. "President Serenity?" Usagi gasped. "I... We're sorry. We didn't expect you to be briefing us, this time." "Where are you?" Ami blinked. "Are you broadcasting this to us?" "Continue along the stairwell. Soon, you shall come to a safe house, where you shall be able to receive all relevant information, detailing your next target. Oh, and by the way, nice jump there, Ami. Pity it's going to take a bit to clean up that carpet." "Uh... thankyou, Ma'am." Ami bowed, slightly, feeling slightly silly. Usagi tapped Ami on the shoulder and the blue- haired girl nodded to her. After picking up her backpack, Ami started her way down, followed by Rei and Usagi. ----o Within the Safe House, a small, white-walled old school drama room, with the same black carpet on the floor and a small dais at one end, with black curtains covering the large windows, Usagi, Ami and Rei were finally able to remove their backpacks and overcoats. In an adjoining room was a small shower, in which they could refresh themselves, although it was a bitch in removing their bodysuits, which hugged their forms with extreme prejudice. Having now washed and relaxed, redressing in the bodysuits in case they needed to move quickly, they found a small food parcel sitting in the far corner of the room, behind the dais. Ami checked the food for toxins before they started to hoe in, stuffing themselves on the canned meats and vegetables. It had been a while since they had eaten food as good as this. Even better that Ami had remembered to bring a canopener.... It would have been a pain if Rei had to blast the cans open again with her low-grade explosive charges. Eventually, they stood in a row upon the dais and awaited their orders. A small screen descended from the ceiling in front of them, and on it appeared the image of a woman with long white hair, sitting in front of a frescoe, representing the symbol of the Republic of Surrealism. The trio saluted their President, Serenity von Kalrich. "The Death Sailors, reporting as you ordered, my Lady, and awaiting your orders." Usagi said, deferentially, as the unofficial speaker for the group. "Ah, indeed. And most prompt you were, too, if I must say so, myself. It isn't easy for our operatives to get about, anymore." "Thankyou, my Lady." Said the trio, in unison. Serenity smiled and lifted up a small piece of paper. "So, we better get down to business. At ease." Serenity nodded at the trio, and the three put down their arms and gently sat on the dais, cross-legged. Serenity continued. "This man is to be your next target." The image changed to a still shot of a handsome looking individual, with short blond hair and piercing eyes. The hearts of the trio fluttered, slightly, then settled as they remembered the situation. "This is Adam Jade, the leader of the group known as the Masters of Reality." Serenity's voice continued over the images that started to flash across the screen. One of Jade addressing a small gathering, another of Jade in a severely-cut but decorative grey uniform, making an inspection of similarly-dressed soldiers. "He intends to unite several powerful reality factions in the hope of creating an army capable of taking on the forces of the Republic. Death Sailors, he must NOT succeed. You must kill him at ALL costs, for the lives of all who exist are at risk if he is to succeed...." END OF PART 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------- ACROSS THE BORDER In the heat of the day Many miles away when the Sun is beating down upon the main street. I'll be waiting at the station, I gotta move down the line. They'll be dancing and singin' And doin' their thing And they'll be rockin' and rollin' Until the day is done. You know I've got to Make the deadline- I gotta get that southbound train tonight- If I don't get to the border then I'll write. The Mardis Gras Will be blowing strong And the people dancing All across the city I'm leavin' here tonight I gotta move down the line. I'm gonna catch a ride On the 9.05 I'm gonna ride the rails Until we reach the morning, Maybe three or four Hundred miles. I gotta get that southbound train tonight- If I don't get to the border then I'll write. When the wind is blowing Softly throught the streets of a little town And the music's playin', You're waitin' somewhere Over the horizon. I gotta get that southbound train tonight- If I don't get to the border then I'll write. -Jeff Lynne- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Next Chapter - "Nemesis Gate" So what do you think, ppls? A dead set classic in the making, or a piece of rampant crappe? ^_^;; This story came about because of a dream I had. Believe it or not, the dream was almost exactly what you see above. I have strange dreams, okay? ^_^;; Anyway, the dream itself dealt with this theme, but imvolved three young men, rather than three young women, as I have written here. It might be interesting if I were to rewrite this to please the Yaoi crowd on the Yaoi ML and the YSML.... Maybe not.... ^_^;; Anyways, I hope you ppls were capable of following the storyline so far. I always have trouble with people following my ideas, be they UID, SIU or whatnot. Must be the way I write. I know what I mean when I'm writing things. I tend to forget, rather unfortunately, that not everyone is blessed with the same insight into the stories that I have as their creator.... For those who are interested, yes, I do have a certain fascination with buildings, and the clausterphobic nature of architecture. That's why I created such plot devices as the Eternal City in UID and the Sacred House compound in SIU.... Monolithic structures of varying nature in which the characters become swamped. In this story, the monolithic structure is not dissimilar to the Eternal City, the differences lie in the fact that it DOES have an end to it. Where the Republic of Surrealism ends, so does the city itself. That those living within the Republic take to their environment in a manner most unusual may be described as a kind of rebellion within my own mind for this fascination with the oppressive. -Mark- DDFA ayanami@merlin.net.au Chief Propoganda Officer, Keeper of the Tapes and Co-Founder of the Saitou-chan Fan Club ADELAIDE JAPANESE ANIMATION SOCIETY (aka the Assorted Juvenile Atrocities Sect) Version 1.1 - 22nd May 1998