A little slow to react and half blinded by her own emotions, Jupiter grunted in pain as Uranus landed her kick directly on her side. But she didn't let it take her down. She took a few unsteady steps before catching herself on the table, breathing heavily more from anger and frustration than exhaustion. 

"I know exactly what they did!" Jupiter yelled. "I was there, remember?" And it came back fresh in her mind every time she saw how broken Ami was. She threw herself back at Uranus with the same force as before, pulling her arm back for another wild strike. There wasn't much of an aim this time, she just wanted a hit somewhere.

"I'm gonna wipe that cocky smirk right off your face!" As long as she could remember, Uranus just rubbed her the wrong way, and she couldn't stand it anymore. Maybe she had never gotten over being beaten so easily when they first met. It had definitely done a number on her confidence in her own power.

Uranus' neck snapped back with the force of Jupiter's blow. It was enough to knock her to the ground. Uranus groaned as she stood up, wiping the side of her mouth with her glove. There was a small pinkish smear left; the blow was so sudden it caused Uranus to cut her lip. 

"Cocky smirk? What cocky smirk?" Was she being cocky? Last she checked, she was remembering the fight they had decades ago. She uttered a laugh, then stretched her arms wide, motioning all across their hideout-the run down building they had called home for so long. 

"Does this look cocky to you!?" She snapped. Is that what this was to Jupiter? Was she not concerned with their situation at all? Jupiter wanted cocky? Oh, she'll get cocky.  "Look at where we've been living, Jupiter! Look!" 

With her left hand-the one with the smear of blood across it, she motioned to the sad and decaying tatami mats they called beds, the broken and water damaged dressers they called storage-the cracked and boarded up window that constantly let in drafts. And then the door. The door that they both guarded on and off for who knows how long; simply hiding and taking shifts so that death wouldn't find them that night. 

"They destroyed the palace; they took our princess-our queen-from us. And now after twenty long years we finally have a fighting chance!" She screeched. "They've reduced us to little more then sewer rats, Jupiter! Rats that they could extinguish at any time if they found us! We finally have a chance to fight back-we've got our powers back, but the way we are now!?" Uranus stomped on a spider that had been crawling across the floor. "They'll crush us like the bugs we've been reduced to. We need to train. We have to."

Uranus lunged herself at Jupiter-a full body tackle. 

"We don't have the luxury of having hesitation and discomfort to stop us! We lost that 20 years ago, when we lost her!"

If they could not find Serenity, it would be her fault.

It seemed there was no way to climb out of this pit of desperation. Every new thought just made her feel worse. Uranus’ words felt like stabs in her heart but she also knew they were right. It wasn’t Uranus’ fault. It was her own for being weak.

And then Jupiter exploded.

Mercury turned around in surprise just in time to see Jupiter throwing the punch. Immediately, all thoughts of her own problems vanished as panic replaced it. Oh, no, they couldn’t be fighting among themselves! It was weird; she hadn’t seen Mako act like this since their high school days. Even for the last few years, she had been uncharacteristically subdued, perhaps because there had been nothing to lash out at. But now there was, and though it was completely misplaced, she bet Jupiter didn’t care about that. She would just be happy to have an excuse to punch someone.

And Uranus was only too happy to provoke her. With trembling hands, Mercury picked up the computer again, frantically trying to do what she was supposed to do correctly. Soon the fight would escalate, and if they started using powers… they would need protection.

The fear of endangering her friends’ lives was helpful; it forced her to concentrate and shove aside the smaller fear of touching this computer. Her fingers flew across the buttons quickly, and this time the calculations were inputted properly. But just when she typed the command to create the protective field and finally pressed the ‘Enter’ button…

Nothing happened.

What? She was sure she did it right this time. She tried to have the computer analyze the house for anything that could be blocking its power, but again, it came up empty. It couldn’t even perform a regular analysis of energy levels. What on earth?

Mercury began to look at the computer more closely. She thought there was something different about it, but she’d brushed it off because she thought it had just been a long time since she’d seen it. But there was something about it that felt… wrong. It was missing a chunk of its regular functions.

This was not her computer.

“Stop,” she said, fighting to get to her feet. With difficulty she managed to stand somewhat steadily on both feet and faced the two fighters. “STOP! This computer is NOT MINE! I can’t make a protective field with it after all!”

Her gaze returned to the box, to the transformation items that were scattered about. “I think…” she paused, her brain working quickly to solve the problem. “I think they might be replicas.”

She knew, at the bottom of her heart, that no matter how annoyed she was with Uranus, her reasoning was sound. They needed to train so they could protect themselves again, but...why did Ami have to suffer for it? Why couldn't this be simpler, where she knew what was good and what was bad and who to hurt to make things better again? She charged again, catching Uranus mid tackle, and pushed back with all the power she had, locking the two in a match of pure strength in the middle of the room. They were at a standstill now, an unstoppable force colliding with an immovable object.

Jupiter snapped out of her haze at Mercury's yell to stop, It wasn't her computer? Why would they get replicas instead of the real things? She thought that her transformation wand felt the same... As her attention waned, so did her muscles, and Uranus would quickly start to overtake her if she kept pushing.

Saturn watched as the tension escalated. She could tell Mercury was not ready to make use of her computer, but didn't have any other ideas beyond using Sailor Teleport to the Moon Kingdom to offer.
Finally the atmosphere broke and Jupiter and Uranus began fighting.

She wanted to step in and stop, remind them to have faith in their Queen who wished nothing more than for them to work together. She must still be alive if their transformation items appeared once again. She also wanted to comfort Mercury by offering to defend her if the Hypothesis scientists could trace the use of her computer. They hadn't seen what her powers could do in the fall of Crystal Tokyo, and no matter the strength of their technology, her powers can end all things human or machine.

Just before she used the Silence Glaive to stop the fight, Mercury quickly did something at her computer and shouted for them to stop.

At the assertion their items were replicas, Saturn looked questioningly at the Silence Glaive. It felt so real, so sturdy in her hands. But there was the tiniest hint that something wasn't quite the same, now that the suggestion had been put there. She was at that moment torn between the apprehension of what a replica would imply and letting go of this sacred object she always held near in battle.

Uranus and Jupiter were neck-and-neck. Jupiters' counter was nothing less then impressive, but Uranus was not about to back down. The two continued testing their strength, if either faltered-the opposite would overpower them. Using force to stay in balance and to keep the opponent from moving was the type of fighting Uranus remembered-in a way, the fighting she longed for. 

At least, that's how it was supposed to be. Mercury cry of shock-her declaration of the items being falsified, made Uranus' blood run cold. 

"...eh?"

She stopped shoving Jupiter immediately and stepped out of the way, so as not to fall under Jupiter's strength. She ran up to Mercury, heart racing and knees shaking. 

"Fake? You think these are fake?" Without even realizing what she was doing, she placed both hands on Mercury's shoulders, trembling. 

"How are these fake? Look at this! Look at my sword! Look at our uniforms! Did you see our transformations? Did you see our weapons? Did you?" Uranus continued to run her mouth the the speed of a rapid-fire machine gun, her face the color of ash. 

Her mind was whirling. Fake? How?

Venus should have known what was about to happen before it did, but the fight still somehow surprised her. As soon as Mercury had failed to create a shield, the situation had gone downhill. There was always a little bit of tension between Jupiter and Uranus, even after all of the senshi had gotten onto the same page, but they had never outright gone after each other before. Being stuck in this building for 20 years stewing in their own feelings probably didn't help the matter though. 

Venus hesitated to step in, unsure if the two would even listen at this rate. And she wasn't sure she could even separate them without using her own powers, which was risky. Thankfully, they had enough sense to stick with physical moves instead of throwing around World Shaking and Supreme Thunder at each other indoors. Mercury's discovery did stop them in their tracks however, along with everyone else in the room.

The items were fakes? If they really weren't' the original items, they were very authentic if they still had magical properties. Frowning as her mind tried to find a reason why someone would send them these replicas, Venus walked over to Mercury and Uranus.

"Uranus, let her go, I think we're all just as confused as you are," she said, trying to sound more like a leader. She returned her attention to Mercury. "If the items we have are not the real ones, then we're just going to have to use them until we can find the originals. That's the only option we have unless we want to be helpless again. Mercury, do you at least think that these will last? They aren't any more fragile than usual, right?"



When Uranus abandoned their fight, Jupiter was thrown off balance for a moment, but she steadied herself and stayed upright. Now that the adrenaline and anger was starting to fade, she was starting to feel sore from all that sudden movement and straining. Her side stung from where Uranus had gotten a kick in, though she hadn't broken a rib or anything serious. It was most likely just going to bruise up. If anything, she was more embarrassed than injured.

She shouldn't have started that fight, it was clear to her now. She was just upset and wanted an outlet for it, and they really couldn't afford to hurt each other for real like that. But she just couldn't bring herself to apologize at the moment. Jupiter slowly sat down and leaned against a wall, trying to catch her breath. She wondered if Ami was disappointed in her now...

Uranus fell quiet at Venus' interference. She backed down from interrogating Mercury, if only for a moment. There were still dozens upon dozens of questions burning in her mind, but she no longer had the energy nor the motivation to act upon them. Warn down from her fight with Jupiter and struck with worry over this new revelation, Uranus walked over to Neptune and squeezed her hand for reassurance. 

Venus was right-Uranus knew that. They finally had a fighting chance to take back their kingdom, and they would use these fakes to do so. 

Even if it were all a trap. Uranus swore to herself that she would take down as many of them as possible with their own faked-weapons if it were.

Michiru kept her fists clenched at her sides, knowing better than to interfere with Uranus when she was like this. Tears filled her eyes as Makoto hit her soul mate, but she knew Uranus would be okay. They had been in countless fights and battles throughout their lives, and Uranus was tough. But it still hurt to see the person she loved getting hurt. 

The fight ended at Mercury cry, to Neptune's and probably everyone else's relief. But now they had a new problem. Their items were replicas? So what exactly were they capable of? 

Neptune's thoughts were interrupted by a rough knock on the door of their 'home'. She froze, staring at the weakened wood in fear. Who could possibly be at their door? After twenty years of existing undisturbed, who could possibly want something with them now? 

Letting go of Uranus's hand, Neptune slowly approached the door. Her hand closed around the cold knob as she pressed her ear to the door. There were whispers, but all too inaudible to make out. Could it be Usagi? Did she dare to even hope?

At the thought, Neptune turned the knob and opened the door just a crack.

Before she even had time to react, the door was slammed open, sending her falling backwards. She hit the ground hard, suddenly swarmed by a force of ten armed soldiers. Her arms were being grabbed and pulled behind her back as the Hypothesis soldiers entered the house, guns aimed at the senshi. A strangled cry escaped Neptune's lips at the gun pressed to her back. 

It was happening again. They were all going to die right here, right now. It was over.

A turquoise glint caught Neptune's eye, and she found herself staring at her mirror that was being taken by one of the men. No, it wasn't over yet. They had their transformations, they had their items. They had their hope. 

Feeling the adrenaline take over, Neptune yanked her head backwards, slamming it into the face of the soldier who was holding her. He let out a shout of pain before letting go of her to try and stop the blood from gushing out of his nose. Groaning, Neptune shook her head to try and clear the ringing in her ears. She scrambled to get away and join the other senshi in what would be a pivotal battle. This was it. This is what would determine whether or not the senshi really could take back Crystal Tokyo.

Note:

Thankfully, her words stopped the fighting, but now all the attention turned to her. Uranus was even shaking her shoulders and sending a barrage of questions, making things even worse for Mercury’s already shaken psyche.

It’s not my fault! she wanted to yell, her own body trembling too. She didn’t know why they’d been sent replicas. She had nothing to do with it.

But maybe it is, another, persistent part insisted. You are after all the one who encouraged the technology to grow. This is all your fault. Down to the fact that the real magical items were lost and now all you’ve got are fakes.

She drew a breath when Uranus let her go on account of Venus’ orders. Mercury’s knees were so weak she had to support herself using the table. Was it a good idea to use these items that weren’t even theirs? Sure, it was better than nothing, but… what if it was a trap?

Looking up at Venus, she shook her head. “I don’t know. The computer is nearly useless; it can’t analyze anything in real-time anymore. It looks like I will have to input all the data manually. It’s about as useful as a regular computer right now. The transformation items seem to work fine, but I don’t know about the talismans. They’ll need to be tested.”

She stiffened when she heard the knock on the door. Nobody ever knocked on their door. Would it be the person who gave them these items? The faces of Luna and Artemis flashed in her mind, hopefully.

But then the door was pushed open with a bang, startling her, and she immediately realized that they’d been found as about a dozen white-clad soldiers rushed in. Pure terror washed over her as the memories from that fateful day returned like a barrage of images in her mind. How helpless she’d felt. How betrayed. How scared she’d been for Usagi’s life. Was it all happening all over again?

When three of the soldiers went for her, Mercury was paralyzed. For a second, she thought this was the end.

But the feeling of the power coursing through her veins reminded her that she wasn’t entirely helpless. She didn’t want to fight, but she had to. She was so tired and scared and terrorized—but somehow, she needed to find the strength. Usagi would want her to survive. She’d tell her to keep fighting.

“Mercury Aqua Mist!” she called out just before one of them could grab her, and was almost surprised when the mist descended as usual. It had been ages since she’d successfully used her powers after all. Several of the soldiers paused, disoriented, and she hoped it’d give her friends a better chance. She’d never been a physical fighter herself, and now without her computer to analyze the battlefield, she felt even more useless.

Jupiter was pulled away from her thoughts by a knock at their door. She tensed, and slowly stood up again as Neptune approached the door. Who could it even be? No one should know who lived here. But then again, the mysterious person who had left the box figured it out. She took a step back as a whole team of soldiers burst into the room, guns raised. Neptune was quickly grabbed, but she soon regained some control over the situation and escaped the soldier's grip by force. 

Jupiter's protective rage came back almost as soon as she caught sight of the uniforms. Now these were acceptable targets to aim for. After glancing at Uranus, hoping that the other senshi understood their momentary truce, Jupiter focused entirely on the 3 enemies before them. A familiar mist filled the room, and Jupiter felt a little more confident in their chances now. She'd thank Mercury for choosing to fight with them after this was over.

Eager to finally let loose on someone, Jupiter crossed her arms and dug inside herself for her own power. The antenna on her tiara crackled, and the air filled with the smell of ozone.

"Supreme Thunder!" A bolt of lightning exploded from her, aimed at the small group of soldiers approaching her and Uranus. It caught the first two by surprise, and they convulsed as it struck them before falling to the floor. The third was smarter and ducked behind cover before peeking out to fire his gun at her. Jupiter couldn't completely dodge, and it caught part of her with a concussive blast. Her left ear was ringing, and her entire left side felt numb to a degree. She stumbled and fell onto one knee, trying to refocus her vision.



Venus listened carefully to Mercury's thoughts on the replicas. So her computer wasn't nearly as powerful, but the wands seemed to be functional, and Venus felt no less powerful than before. The talismans were another thing entirely. If they weren't as powerful, that could definitely winder Uranus and Neptune's abilities.

Her eyes narrowed as someone knocked on their door, but there was no time to come up with a plan before the Hypothesis soldiers broke in. Venus let her battle instincts take over, and as soon as the mist fell over the soldiers, she charged them. She had no intention to let them use those guns, no matter what they did.

"Venus Love-Me Chain!" With a flick of her wrist, the chain around her waist unraveled itself, and she snapped the guns out of the two soldiers' hands. The second strike was with her Wink Chain Sword, slicing into their armor and knocking them to the floor. Venus pulled her weapon back and made sure they were subdued. At least she hadn't lost too much of her edge.

Saturn relaxed a bit as the situation seemed to be cooling down between Uranus and Jupiter. Thank goodness Venus maintained her leadership skills so well, as though no years had passed. She thought about it again. The Silence Glaive was not a talisman; it was as much a part of her fuku as Jupiter's lightning rod or Venus' belt, so it was most certainly the real thing. If the Space Sword and Deep Aqua Mirror were replicas, the Glaive would be needed all that much more, especially without the Pluto or the Queen.

Just then there was a knock at the door. All heads in the room turned and conversation ceased instantly. Who could possibly be knocking after all these years of hiding in silence? Saturn watched as Sailor Neptune walked over and cracked to door a bit. Her blood ran cold when the Hypothesis soldiers burst in and restrained Neptune in a split second. Thankfully Mercury retained better reflexes than her shaky state would indicate and she quickly obscured their vision with mist.

Saturn instinctively moved next to Mercury who was standing the closest. She held out the Silence Glaive defensively.

The soldiers regain their bearings and three started for Saturn and Mercury from different directions. Saturn took a deep breath to steady herself. She didn't want to use too much power and possibly destroy the house. Instead she focused on one soldier and silently summoned some ribbons to restrain his limbs and drain his energy. As he collapsed, she heard the clicking of one of their guns. Jupiter had already been hit and she felt the need to protect the one most precious to Jupiter.

"Silence Wall" she cried turning toward the second and blocking the concussive blast. Unfortunately, she had misjudged the position of the third. He snuck up from behind here where there was no shield and kicked with his boots, knocking her to the ground. He kicked her again, sending waves of pain up her back. She wildly summomed some more ribbons but only managed to trip the soldier. At least the kicking had stopped.

Neptune found herself standing back-to-back with Mars, ready to defend her if need be. Total chaos had broken out in the tiny building, and it was only a matter of time until the whole thing came crashing down. If they didn't end this battle soon, they would have to find some other place to go. But then again, who knew what would happen after they defeated all of these soldiers. Their hiding spot had been found.

Two soldiers came rushing for her and Mars, which made Neptune worry a bit. Their elements were complete opposites, so how would they attack without canceling each other out? Neptune shoved her worries behind her and ducked as a soldier swung at her. As she was kneeling, Neptune swiped at the soldier's legs with her own, sending him toppling to the floor. Seeing her chance, she lunged for him, wrestling for control over his gun. She wasn't sure what exactly the gun was capable of, but she had a feeling it wouldn't feel good. With a grunt, Neptune was able to pry the gun out of his hand and toss it to a corner of the room before he kneed her in the stomach. Gasping, Neptune rolled off and struggled to catch her breath. Before she could bring herself to her feet, the soldier had grabbed a fistful of her hair and was pulling her up.

Finally catching her breath, Neptune felt a wave of fury wash over her. She swung her arm upwards, hitting the soldier's elbow so he would let go of her hair. He didn't, so she hit him again and again, saying, "Don't. Touch. My. Hair!" With the final word, he let go, hissing in pain. Now that she was free, Neptune closed her eyes and listened to the roar of the sea in her ears. Summoning the powers she had missed for so long, she shouted, "Deep Submerge!"

The attack was strong, but not as strong as Neptune had hoped. However, it was powerful enough to knock the soldier out cold. Satisfied with her work, Neptune turned her attention back to Mars to see how she was faring.

Mercury was about to lose it when she saw Jupiter knocked down, but she could not get to her just yet. Three of the soldiers were blocking her way, going for her and Saturn. However, Mercury did note that their guns did not have real bullets or were dangerous enough to kill. It seemed to only be firing a powerful wave of some sort. She filed this information for later.

Saturn had restrained one of the soldiers easily. The second one tried to shoot at her but was blocked by the Silence Wall. But the third managed to knock Saturn down and had begun to beat her with his heavy boots. Mercury roared in anger at the sight of it—their cruelty never ceasing to amaze her—and as he tripped over one of Saturn’s ribbons, she grabbed his gun out of his flailing hands and hit him in the back of the head. He went down for the time being, though she didn’t know how long he’d stay down considering her strength.

If she could not use brute force, she was going to have to use precision and technique. The soldiers were well protected on their torso, so she couldn’t aim there. Their heads and faces, however, weren’t, so she decided to focus on those. She aimed the stolen gun toward the second soldier, who had moved around Saturn’s barrier, and pulled the trigger. The concussion waves hit him in the head and down he went as well. She was just glad these weren’t real guns—she didn’t know if she could’ve pulled the trigger. Guns were such crude, brutal devices, and especially so when used on fellow humans. They might be monsters inside, but Mercury still found the thought of killing them unthinkable. There was just something different about taking a life from your own species. Especially when she’d dedicated most of her own life to saving them.

The first soldier that had previously been restrained by Saturn had now broken free when Saturn was down, and he tackled Mercury to the ground. She gasped when the gun flew out of her hands and skidded out to the other end of the room. She kicked back at him with all her might, panic and fear and tears of desperation clouding everything. The man hung tight onto her legs. Mercury tried not to sob out loud. She just wanted him to let her go. She couldn’t be captured and stripped of her powers anymore. She couldn’t feel that helpless again.

She just couldn’t.

Mars had been itching for a fight with a real enemy to take out her frustrations on ever since she saw Jupiter and Uranus’ scuffle, and the world did not disappoint her. When the soldiers burst in, Mars actually had a small smile on her face. Finally, all this pent-up rage could be channeled to the proper places. Two soldiers were heading for her and Neptune, and Neptune immediately engaged one in a fight. Mars went for a straight punch in the face with the other before he could make the first move.

He hissed in pain and grabbed her by the neck. He was strong—she’d give him that. But he didn’t have twenty years’ worth of fury to fuel him, did he? She punched him for a second time and he growled at her, slamming her to the nearest wall. Mars’ breath was knocked out of her. She grabbed the arm holding her by the neck and summoned her flames, but to her frustration the fabric wouldn’t catch fire. The man actually had the audacity to smile at her, and when he pointed his gun to her chest, Mars did the only thing she could. She aimed at the place she knew would hurt him most, and kicked with all her might.

He let out a muffled cry of pain and dropped her to the floor. “Fire…” she spoke in a hoarse voice, her breath wheezing with each word, “…Soul!”

She aimed the attack at his unprotected face this time, and the man’s scream grew hysterical as his face suffered from second-degree burns. He toppled over to the ground and didn’t come back up. Mars realized her attack was way weakened than what she was used to, but it was probably just as well. The others didn’t seem to be killing the soldiers, only subduing them, and as much as she didn’t care about their lives, she didn’t want to be the only murderer in the house today.

Still slumped on the ground, sitting against the wall, Mars caught Neptune’s eye and smirked. “Why, Neptune. I always knew you care more than you’d like to admit about that hair. I hear it’s insured for 1,000,000,000 yen.”

Uranus froze up completely. It was exactly what she had been fearing for decades. The men stormed the room before she could blink, immediately initiating combat with the ones she was trying to protect the most. 

And the tools they had just received, the tools that gave them power and hope; were counterfeit. 

For a split second, she was back in the castle, showing up only after the others had been already defeated. They closed in on her, surrounded her and overtook her. Unable to snap out of it, Uranus received a wide array of punches and kicks to her head and abdomen. As she fell, she could hear them snickering-just like that moment all those years ago.

All Uranus wanted to to was curl up into a hole. How was she supposed to fight them? She already lost once.  They continued to jeer at her, and that was all that filled her ears, until-

"Why, Neptune. I always knew you care more than you'd like to admit about that hair. I hear it's insured for 1,000,000,000 yen."

Mars voice jokingly popped up-briefly breaking Uranus' trance. That's right, she thought. She wasn't the last one standing like before. They're with her now, and they're all fighting.

She gritted her teeth and raised her right arm powerfully into the air, and spoke the words of power she never thought she'd speak again. 

"World Shaking!"

The men cried out as they were repelled back away from her, smashing into walls. Panting, Uranus stood up and wiped some blood from the corner of her mouth. She looked around, and there they were. The other senshi. Her allies. 


It had been a long time since she fought alongside them as senshi. She was not about to ruin that chance again. Slowly and carefully, she withdrew what she thought was the space sword-a rather low, grade carbon-copy. She grinned, finally out of her anxieties, and pointed the blade forward. 

"WHO ELSE WANT'S SOME!" She roared triumphantly. Yes, this would not be like last time. 

They will triumph. 

Jupiter watched as Uranus finally started fighting, knocking down the last of the men that had surrounded the tow with a powerful World Shaking. It was revitalizing to see her back to normal again, and Jupiter finallly overcame the sense of dizziness the gun had given her to stand again. She was just in time to see a soldier tackle Mercury, pinning her down by the legs. How dare they?

Trusting that Uranus had the situation handled over here, she didn't waste any time in coming to Mercury's aid. She picked the soldier by his own legs and threw him into a wall. He slumped to the ground, too weak to move. 

"Are you okay?!" Jupiter keeled by Mercury and tried to help her up. "I'm sorry, I should have stayed closer by..." she said, checking her over for injuries.

Saturn gingerly pulled herself up from the ground, her back aching from the boot kicks. She distantly heard Jupiter going to Mercury's aid before icy white rage set in.

Using the Silence Glaive, she slowly raised herself off of the ground, hunched and limping from the beating she just received. She wanted to return the pain in kind and then some. She spotted the two unconscious soldiers Mercury had subdued.

"Death. Reborn. Revolution." she called quietly, summoning more ribbons. This time she aimed them at the uncovered spots of these two soldiers. Then she began draining their energy.

At first she drained the energy slowly, to the slight moaning of pain, then she intensified a jolt, causing them to cry out, then slowly again, then FAST. She was enjoying the sounds of their pain.

No, they wouldn't die today, she was no murderer, but by Goddess would they suffer. She was a fate worse than death. Let them run back to their bosses and relate their pain. Let fear roll down their spines of the reckoning that is to come for what they had done to Crystal Tokyo.

Neptune grinned and jokingly tossed her hair over her shoulder. "It is quite the fine specimen, don't you think?" she teased. Her smile faded slightly as she searched for  among the array of bodies that littered the floor. She spotted her lover standing triumphantly with her sword in hand, yelling at the moaning, groaning soldiers. It was then that Neptune noticed Sailor Saturn practically torturing a couple of soldiers who were already down. Worry flashed in Neptune's eyes as she stepped towards Uranus, taking her lover's hand and nodding her head towards their adopted daughter. 

"Should...we stop her?"

Uranus had been caught up in her own tidal wave of emotion during the fight. From the moment she stood up against them and withdrew the blade, all other commotion fell off her radar-and all she could think about was victory. Sweet, sweet victory. Sweet, Sweet Revenge.

Uranus's fighting instinct was cut short with the touch of Neptune's hand. She lowered her sword.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about, Neptune? Stop who?"

Only then did she notice where Neptune had motioned. It was Saturn, who had knocked quite a few of the solders down herself. By the looks of things, they were not going to be getting back up anytime soon. Uranus saw nothing wrong with that-but her heart sank the more she watched. The men were groaning and screaming in pain and the intensity of her power fluxuated.

And yet, with the growing discomfort in her stomach, something more powerful took over. Pride. She was proud of their adopted daughter and her torture. She felt ecstatic with each scream the men croaked out. A crooked smile formed across Uranus' lips.

"Nah." Uranus answered, giving Neptune a pat on the shoulder. "It looks like she's having fun. Besides, these bastards deserve each and every ounce of pain they receive from us."

The weight on her back was suddenly gone, and then there was a crack. Shaking, she turned and felt immensely relieved when she saw Jupiter by her side. “F-fine,” she stuttered, trying to blink away her tears. She couldn’t believe she was crying in the middle of the fight. This was pathetic. Maybe she was no longer cut out to be a soldier after all. She clung to Jupiter as if she were her lifeline, even if she felt embarrassed about it.

“I-I’m sorry I’m so useless,” she stammered. “You shouldn’t have to babysit me.” She curled her fingers into fists and struggled to stand up. She was tired of feeling weak, and yet she didn’t know how to be strong.



Mars smiled at Neptune, glad to see her in a good mood despite their battle. When Neptune’s attention turned to Saturn, Mars followed her gaze. She looked almost possessed, and Mars wondered if the spirit of Saturn was taking over Hotaru again. Or was it just all the pent-up anger? Seeing what she was doing, strangely Mars did not feel scared—she almost felt envious. She wanted to inflict pain, too. All the pain in the world.

But it was never Usagi’s way.

Usagi’s way was love.

And she would be horrified by this.

If they no longer fought in the name of their queen, then who were they fighting for?

Mars slowly stood up, and without a word, she approached Saturn and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She didn’t feel like she needed to speak; confident that the other senshi would understand her.

Sailor Saturn felt a warm hand on her shoulder and suddenly a hole had burned through her rage. She turned slightly and used her peripherals to see Mars standing beside her with a look of understanding. 

She looked back at the soldiers and released her hold on them, allowing them to gently slump to the floor. She planted the Silence Glaive on the floor with a determined clunk while looking at the ground, took a deep breath, and lifted her head once more.

"Thank you for stopping me," she said, looking at Mars, "and also for reminding me that we have to be better than them." Then she turned addressing the others, "What should we do with them now?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sailor Uranus rested her blade, her face twisted in obvious disappointment. Why had Mars stopped her? Saturn wasn't going out of control or about to, she was only giving these bastards their just desserts.

"We could kill them. Or keep them hostage here and interrogate them to tell us what they know about the King, Queen, and Princess." She had begun to rock back and forth on her heels, like a child eagerly awaiting permission to go outside and play in the sun after a day of nothing but rain.

"Or we could do both." Uranus' eyes glimmered slightly. She hoped she wasn't sounding to happy with her ideas. Revenge was just in their grasp!

"We could kill a few to show examples for the rest of them, and they'll force the live ones to tell us everything. What do you guys think?"

"We aren't killing anyone unless we have no other option," Venus said, cutting off Uranus. Just watching Saturn torture the soldier had been hard enough, and she refused to stand by and watch anything similar happen again. 

"We're guardians, not hired thugs." She refused to stoop that low, not after this long. Morals were the only things that were keeping them human now, and the last thing they needed were rouge senshi. "We can ask them for information, but no one is getting tortured."



"It's alright..." Jupiter said, letting the panic drain from her voice. Mercury looked like she was in one piece, but she was clearly falling apart again. "You're not useless...It's just been a while." Her hand went up to brush away the evidence that Mercury had been crying, and pulled them both to their feet again. "And it's not babysitting if I want to protect you."

Neptune was horrified by Uranus's words and actions. She had always known that Haruka had a violent side, but it had never been this bad. Had she been more corrupted by the last twenty years than Neptune had originally thought?

She nodded, agreeing with Venus. Neptune squeezed Uranus's hand, trying to bring her back to reality. "We can't stoop to their level," she said softly. "These aren't Elite soldiers. If anything, they are just regular patrol officers that were assembled to investigate the disruptions we were causing. I think we should wipe their memories, but I don't think we have the means to do that. We've been revealed, which means if they return with knowledge of us, we no longer have a place to hide. And if they don't return soon...more will come. We need to leave now, for good, or find some way to make sure they have no knowledge of our presence."

Uranus was actually fairly surprised how the other senshi were against torture. After all they'd been through, they wanted to just keep these guys tied up or just wipe their memories? How would they even pull that off anyways?

Uranus felt Neptune's hand squeeze hers, and she squeezed her hand in return with a heavy sigh. "You're right, Neptune. If only this many found us, more are sure to come. We may have our powers back, but I know for a fact I can't handle any bigger numbers-not sure about you guys."

Uranus gave Neptune a small kiss on the cheek and ruffled her hair a bit. "Though I still think we should beat these guys a bit before erasing their memories. It won't be a problem if they don't remember how they got injured, right?"

Uranus was only half-joking, but she really was upset at how soft the senshi got. After everything, they were just going to drop them off somewhere? Uranus didn't even think that they even cared what happened to their staff. Who cared if a few of them didn't show up to their posts anyways, couldn't they hire-or manufacture, Uranus wasn't so sure on how far their scientific advances were at this point-more of them?

Mercury had the strongest urge to bury herself in Jupiter’s hug, because her hugs were the most comforting thing in the world, especially after all these years, but she didn’t want to appear weak in front of everyone again. She listened to all the talk about what to do with the soldiers, her mind too tired to figure out a strategy. All she knew was that she did not like the sound of murder or torture. They weren’t savages.



Mars nodded at Saturn with a smile, glad that she understood. In everything they did, they still had to do it in the name of their queen, otherwise they might as well give up. Unsurprisingly, Uranus wanted to kill the soldiers and interrogate them. She sighed; these years definitely had not been kind to Uranus’ bloodthirsty tendencies. Without Usagi around to balance her and keep her in check, it seemed she had not only gone to her old ways, but even went beyond past it. Still, Mars wondered since when Uranus had turned into a cold-blooded murderer. For all her talk about killing people in the past, she had never had to truly do it, and to be honest Mars always doubted she ever truly would or could. Had she underestimated her?

Then again, she probably should be surprised that Uranus was at least asking their permission. She was glad Venus was putting her foot down.

“We’re leaving,” she said decisively. “We have no way of erasing their memories, so this safe house is compromised. Let’s pack up and leave. We’ve been here too long as it is. Now that we have our powers back, we can do something about this situation and stop hiding.”

Venus nodded at Mars, relived that she and Neptune were supporting her decision.

"We can tie these soldiers up and try to put as much distance between us and this house as possible before people come looking for them. That should throw them off us for a while..." Maybe they should do a Sailor Teleport, just to make sure no tracks were left behind to follow. It was a shame they didn't have Luna-P here, or they really could erase memories, or at least alter them...



Still holding Mercury, Jupiter picked up on what the others were discussing. They were going to leave the safe-house? If it were under less dire circumstances, she would have cheered. This was what she wanted to do for years! Being trapped in an abandoned shack and having to sneak around because she was too weak to defend herself, let alone anyone else, was the worst feeling she'd experienced in her life, right after losing the royal family. 

"I'm all for leaving here," Jupiter said, before looking down at Mercury again. "I mean, as long as you are too..." She had no intention of going away if Ami did not come with her.

"We can probably bind them and just leave - it's not like we have many supplies anyway. Mercury, does your computer have enough processing power to search for any of the old safehouses the royal family had set up around the country? Or even to scan for potential places around and under the city where we could set up shop? I would guess that Hypothesis can't detect us in civilian forms, considering how long we've been rotting in this house. Do we have rope or anything else anywhere? If we tie them up and undo our transformations before they awaken we probably won't be followed."

Neptune felt her cheeks warm at Uranus's kiss, even if it was just on the cheek. It was amazing how still after all this time, the two of them had fallen right back to where they used to be. She had no complaints.

The group had reached a consensus - they would tie the soldiers up and leave.

---

Now detransformed, the girls decided to leave in separate groups. They had decided to meet at the different safe houses that had been designated back when Crystal Tokyo was still around. When Hypothesis first came to be, the senshi couldn't bear to visit the safehouses, not only because it was too risky, but also because those places brought back too much pain. But now they had hope, they had strength, and they had their transformation wands. Nothing was going to stop them.

At least they thought.

The first rendezvous point they decided on was the Hikawa Shrine. Since Hypothesis came to be, all religion had been wiped from society, and with it, all Shinto and Buddhist buildings. So the Hikawa Shrine was no longer standing, and that rendezvous point was marked off the list.

The second one was the Tomoe Mansion that had been abandoned by the outer senshi when Crystal Tokyo was formed. With their duties guarding the galaxy on their own planets taking up most of their time, the outers didn't have any need for the Tomoe Mansion. It was one of the few buildings that had been left unchanged by Queen Serenity's magic, and she had made it that way on purpose. Now, it was broken down and no where near as regal or elegant as it was in the 20th century, but it was still standing and it was still abandoned.

It had not been torn down.

And so at different times, the separate groups arrived at the Tomoe Mansion and went inside, making themselves at home in the few rooms that remained. They were again on the outskirts of Hypothesis, where there were little others to see them or bother them. For now, they were safe.

Being in the mansion again made Michiru feel a little sad and empty on the inside. She missed coming home every day to the comforting warmth of this mansion and seeing little Hotaru bounding towards her, welcoming her home with a big hug. She missed the late nights with Haruka just laying in their bed and talking about anything and everything. She longed for those afternoons with Setsuna in which they would sit together and craft or make delicious meals for the rest of their family.

The thought of Setsuna made Michiru's eyes swell with tears, and it was all she could do not to choke on the sobs building in the back of her throat.