Name of the Storyline: Rebel Recon
Name of the Creator(s): Sailor Uranus
Forum: Free Form
Plot Summary: Tesherin Walker and Temperance Rivers were both new to Star City before its collapse, but these reunited childhood friends will do what they can to aid the resistance in striking blows against the Dark Moon Kingdom that usurped their world!

In this storyline, the pair of them will be set to different tasks around Star City, from finding and securing food sources to setting up surveillance equipment around key points around town. They may run into the Droids of the Black Moon and end up meeting one of the Sailor Soldiers in the flesh, but their missions revolve around stealth and results.

Vive la Resistance! 

Details on any necessary information: Alternate Universe RP :: for ease of play without stomping all over Japanese culture, we're using American Dub names and changing the setting from Tokyo Japan to Star City, USA, but keeping all storyline elements / original manga plot the same. Exception: In this world, Melvin (Umino)'s last name is Cross instead of Butlers. ((for personal preference reasons))

Overarching storyline of this AU:

Restrictions: No other characters allowed. Any appearances will be NPC'd by Uranus and Anait.

OOC: Skype

Characters:
Temperance Rivers - Anait Zelliere
Tesherin Walker - Sailor Uranus

Star City, three days after the attack.
Setting: Basement HQ for the start of the Resistance.

---

“We’re getting something!”

Melvin pushed his chair away from the small computer console and wheeled into a standing position as he rushed to join Carson at the satellite television; sure enough, the snow had faded from the screen and a rather shaky image appeared; the room looked dark – it had dark stone floors, dark reflective walls, dark furniture and its ceiling, if it even had one, was far above the camera’s reach. Hundreds of people were jammed inside, each dressed more-or-less for a party, everyone facing forward and visibly shaken. The only real conversation that the microphones picked up were only from people dressed in loud, gem-colored outfits that laughed and played, their faces changing from malicious to merry in split seconds. On each forehead was a black sigil that looked like an upside-down crescent; he remembered that sign from Serena and Darien’s wedding. Those were the aliens, the people responsible for the destruction of their city, and the deaths of hundreds of people. He frowned at them, willing his distaste to somehow affect them, but it didn't. They kept on partying. He crossed his arms and set his lips in a determined line – they wouldn't be smiling for long.

While they didn't have any powers, he and his friends and the people of Star City, they did have the home-field advantage. They knew how the city worked, they knew the best places to be and not to be; they knew secret ways through the streets. Even if they couldn't face them directly, they would do what they could to be a thorn in the side of the aliens until he or his friends or someone else could think up another way to undo them. Star City wasn't finished – not yet!

Even now they had two operatives within the aliens’ own headquarters. They had no way of communicating just yet, but they had people on the inside, and that was something. Reflexively, his eyes searched the back of the image on screen, scanning the crowd for familiar red hair, but the redheads throughout the crowd weren't his redheads. He could only hope that Molly had found a position within the castle that let her be near Serena while still somehow staying out of danger. Without exchanging messages she should be safe, but he still couldn't help worrying for her.

“She’ll be okay, Melvin,” Carson commented, “Molly’s clever; she can take care of herself. And she’s got the Fruit Parlor girl with her, too; they’ll be okay. And maybe they can help – wait, is that her?”

The crowd had hushed as two figures entered the room; the first was a tall, handsome man with the alien symbol on his forehead, the other was his old crush, Serena. The look on her face made him frown – she was scared, she looked sick; the way her hands gripped at the chair made him angry – why would they take hostages like that?! Why Serena, of all people? They stopped her wedding and threatened a baby to get her, but why? How many others did they take? … They weren’t going to kill her on television were they?! 

“Do you have that EMP?” Melvin asked quickly, his eyes never leaving the screen.

“Jay has it, do we need it ready?” Carson replied quickly, motioning for a radio.

“Yeah, tell him to keep close; it’ll put us out for a bit, but if things go bad I don’t want people seeing it,” Melvin stated. He didn't want to see it, and who knew where Serena’s family and friends were. No one deserved… well, no one deserved to be killed, but even fewer people deserved to die in front of an audience. If this was how the aliens were attempting to control them, maybe going without television was an okay alternative.

“He’s talking,” someone said quietly, and someone used the remote to turn up the volume.

“My brothers and sisters, I see you. I see your strength, I see your dedication, I see your loyalty and your accomplishments; I see you and I am filled with pride. For today, at last, our mission has ended: thank to you and all of your hard work, the Future is Safe.”

The future is safe? Melvin thought with some confusion, What is this guy’s angle?! He just tried to destroy our future!.

“People of Earth, I see you, too. I see your heartache, I see your pain, I see your fear and your confusion; I see your uncertainty, and I wish to fill you again with confidence.”

Melvin didn't like where this was going. He was too soft-spoken and self-assured; he was probably trying to make it sound like he did this for our own good.

"In order to protect you, my family has had to resort to dire measures. Unfortunately, many lives were lost in the process. Those people, those brave men and women who died protecting you from a perceived threat, are heroes. Though misguided as their efforts were, their lives were no less valuable, their worth as great as any standing before me, and in their way, they have also saved your future.”

“Bullshit,” Carson stated boldly. Melvin heartily agreed, though he sometimes hated always being right.

“Celebrate them. Look fondly on their lives, remorse in their deaths, and celebrate them for the heroes that they are. Tonight is a celebration for all – for my Black Moon Clan and their job well done, and all of you, our new brethren, for your heroes and the bright, glorious future that now awaits us all. With my power as Prince Diamond of the Black Moon Clan, I declare today a new holiday – Earth Unification Day, a day that celebrates the achievements of the past, the heroes of the present, and the bright vision of the future. And in the spirit of this new Unification of our cultures, I have decided to elect as my Queen, Serenity,” he indicated Serena, and Melvin’s eyebrows furrowed, “A young woman you might know better as Sailor Moon, the warrior princess who has been protecting this planet for the past decade from outside forces of evil.”

Serena was Sailor Moon?! How did he not know that?! Suddenly the whole thing fell into place – why he had to interrupt her wedding, why he had chosen her, why he threatened her child; her friends, Amy and Lita and the others – those must be the other Sailor Scouts! Where were they now?! If they were still alive Earth stood a chance!

“With her by my side, you can be assured of your safety and of my intentions.” the head alien declared falsely, and another alien approached with crowns. “With this ornament and through the power of the Dark Crystal of the Black Moon, I, Diamond,  crown myself King of Earth.” the crown floated onto his head and some sort of lightning crackled across it ominously – how did he do that? Was the crystal some sort of power source? What kind of force did it hold – where did it get its energy from? If they got the crystal, could they break it and stop them? The new “king” commanded then that the audience bowed, and, without any real choice, the audience did. He then turned to the other crown and said, “With this ornament and through the power of the Dark Crystal of the Black Moon, I, King Diamond, crown Serenity. May she be known as the Queen of Earth.”

But then something strange happened; as soon as it hit Serena’s brow light seemed to explode out of her.  The picture disappeared for a moment, but when it came back Serena looked taller and paler, and on her forehead was the golden upward crescent of Eternal Sailor Moon; she really was Sailor Moon. He had known Sailor Moon… had been at her wedding. His fiancée had been at the bachelorette party. And now she was being held captive and forced to serve as the alien's headpiece. His crossed arms tightened.

“Do you see? My Queen is all I said she was – the Protector of Earth, Sailor Moon; her insignia proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt. That our Dark Crystal has caused this transformation in her only validates what I have told you. We are good, we are just, we are the future, and your futures are safe in our hands. ”

As someone offered up a toast, Melvin turned, grabbed a hand-held radio, and rushed from the room, Carson, James, and Terry all behind him as he rushed up the stairs, up from the basement, through a connected hallway to an adjoining hotel, up another floor to the ground floor, and into a room filled with sleeping bags and cots; it was their main relief building, and the walls of the main area and several rooms beyond were filled with names of missing people, and the identifications found on the bodies they had recovered from buildings. The upper stories housed people as well, residents of the complex opening their homes to the homeless; chefs and cooks and grocers heard the whispered word of this location and headed here, catered here, from the restaurants and kitchens that still worked. In return, Melvin and his inner circle had found ways to route electricity to them. Everyone had come together here, and, somehow, Melvin had found himself leading this operation.

Which was all for the best, considering what he had to say.

When he pushed open the door, the room was dead-silent, everyone looking up at the television on the wall, which still showed the party on the other side of the city. The door accidentally slammed into the wall behind him, but the slip-up gave him everyone’s attention, which was what he wanted in the first place. His message so urgent, he didn't even need to clear his throat before beginning. He just slammed down the transmit button, so everyone connected to this little Resistance could hear him set this “King Diamond” right.

“Don’t listen to him!” he urged as the guys behind them turned off their radios to kill the interference. “Everything that man just said was a flat-out lie or phrased in a way he thought we would accept! I know that girl – Serena went to school with me! My fiancée was her best friend – we were at her wedding when the attack happened, and she definitely wasn't getting married to that alien! He’s holding her hostage as surely as he is the world – Sailor Moon is not allied with that man! He took her away and threatened her baby to make her comply! I was there, I saw it! So don’t listen to him!

“And all that nonsense about Earth Unification Day – that’s all it is! Nonsense! He wants us compliant, he wants a populace of sheep to lord over and control, and he thinks that pretty words like that will turn us into his sheep! Well, it didn't turn me!” he cried, pointing to himself.

“Me neither!” Carson seconded helpfully. Suddenly everyone was shouting, agreeing, “Not me!” “I’m no sheep!”

“But what do we do?!” someone cried from the audience. It was a woman, holding a young girl, looking frightened and tired and angry.

“Well,” he replied, caught a little off guard. “We fight them. Fight them every step of the way.” as ideas came to them he just started saying them out loud, going where it felt natural, “We show those aliens that we don’t just comply! We show them that we don’t forget and won’t forgive them for what they did, no matter how nicely they try to justify it! We are the citizens of Star City! We aren't part of the Black Moon Clan, or whatever they’re called, and we never will be! We will resist them every step of the way! This is our town, and I’m not going to let these invaders go about their business peacefully!” he stopped for a breath and suddenly everyone cheered, “We may not be fighters, but we are survivors! We are firemen and policemen and grocers and chefs, we’re techies and athletes and housewives, and we won’t go down without a fight! We are the Resistance!”

More cheering, more applause – while internally smiling at the weird thing his speech teacher might have liked all those years ago, on the outside he knew that they had work to do, and they needed to start on that tonight. “Listen,” he said quietly, thinking it would just be for his friends, but actually everyone quieted down, even ‘shhh’ing the other people. He continued as though they hadn't though; otherwise he’d probably get a little nervous. “We need as many surveillance cameras as we can get, wired and wireless. I assume they’re all at that party, so we should be able to sneak around and put them generally around their palace so we can monitor them.”

“I used to work at an electronics shop; if there are any left there I’ll bring them back here,” someone from the audience offered.

“Uh… Good! Okay, that’d be really helpful actually.” Melvin replied.

“Do you need any help carrying them? I can help you,” someone else offered to the woman who had made the suggestion. “I can help too,” others seconded, and suddenly they had formed their own little group and were leaving, taking a flashlight from beside the door.

“You’ll need people to set them up, right?” a guy asked, stepping forward, “I like to climb; I could get a few in difficult places if you need it.”

Before he knew it, he had a team of placers – people who either enjoyed rock climbing, or parkour or were comfortable with heights. He had a city planner and a construction crew with blueprints of that part of town, who were currently helping him decide where they would place the cameras, ordering them in most-needed to least, depending on how many cameras the first group brought back. He was surprised with himself for being who they looked up to, but that everyone banded together like that was no real surprise. Star City wouldn't be broken that easily.

---

Tesherin followed Temperence at his soft jogging pace, keeping his eyes open for threats as they made their way across town through deserted alleys and narrow one-way streets; whenever they had to cross a road greater than two car-widths, they'd pause as she checked out either direction, and he'd wait for her signal before dashing across. Nearly forty-five minutes of straight jogging and Tesh was still breathing easily - his days of training paying off with endurance. But as they neared their target building and his partner nimbly swung herself up onto a second-floor fire escape, Tesh had to pause and mentally prepare for the feat. 

Running? No problem. Jumping? Easy. P.E. class at all of his high schools had been crazy difficult, with obstacle courses as their bread-and-butter, but it had never quite covered swinging free-handed, curling up, and landing on another surface. He glanced back down the side of the building, taking a deep breath, and took a few steps back, their parkour instructor's lesson going through his head. Gain momentum, leap, grab - don't think, just do. Perfect. With a running leap he got a solid hold on the fire escape and let his body carry through... but he didn't quite get the whole curl-up-and-over-in-one-solid-movement part. He hung there for a moment, glad that Tempy was busy examining their target as he pulled himself up chin-up style (just as the drill instructor always wanted!) and practically flopped onto the metal platform before managing a sitting position. Her head started to turn and he snapped into a casual I'm just admiring the view and looking quite serious about it look as she offered orders. His mouth twitched into a mischievous grin as her tone changed from an order to a question - she was cute, acting like she wasn't comfortable being in charge.

"I don't know..." Tesh replied with mock hesitation, "You know how much I love jumping... but I suppose I'll let you do it." He pulled himself to his feet and eyed the cord that led from the camera into the building through the nearby window. She'd probably need the ledge to get to the camera before he could figure out a way inside to test the outlet. With a mock presentation, he motioned to the ledge and offered, "Ladies first."

Again Ren's mouth twitched upward at Tesherin's sarcasm, her blue eyes bright and determined.  She answered his motion to let her go first by hopping up onto the railing of the stairs and leaping to the ledge of the window.  Grabbing the edge of the window with her hand she swung herself flat against the window.  She stood still for a moment to allow her racing heart to slow.  Although she and her gang used to run around in crazy places they never strayed too far from the ground.  Remembering how their instructor had demonstrated crawling along walls, she took a deep breath and edged her way over to the camera.
 
After what felt like an hour, it was only a few min, she reached the other edge of the window.  She looked up at the camera and saw that it was a little above her and a foot away from the window.  Slowly stretching until she was on the tip of her toes, she reached over and was just barely able to touch the camera.  She felt around the components and found that the cable had come out of the back of the camera.  Ren twisted her fingers around the cord and attempted to reinsert the cable to the camera. 
 
Just as she was about to get the cord in, her fingers slipped and she had to jammed herself against the wall as her body instinctively twitched in panic.  Her hands were cold and sweaty and her heart was pounding out of her chest.  C'mon, you've faced scarier things than this. Besides, it's not like you'll die if you fall and, a small smile overtook her face, if you do fall you can just have Tesherin carry you back.  I'm sure he'd love that.  Regaining her breathing she slowly reached back up and twisted her fingers around the cord again.  This time she was able to plug the cord back into the back of the camera.  She stood waiting, either for the camera to indicate it was on or for Tesherin to inform her.

Teshering watched and waited as Tempy carefully made her way over to the flag pole, wondering if they would ever be as at ease with heights as those instructors were. He glanced up with a slight grimace towards the rooftop, just imagining those crazy guys and girls taking running leaps off of it and onto the nearby rooftop. They'd probably tuck and roll and just keep going. They were crazy. He looked back to Tempy, watching as she carefully stretched to reach the camera, and had to admit that their type of crazy was what they needed now. With her in place and reaching for the camera cord, he had to make his move. He carefully stepped over the railing, keeping both feet on the metal platform and thanking the designer for the small bit of room between the bar and his softer places, then held on to the rail and maneuvered both legs over to the outside of the fire escape. With a reach, he had one foot, then both, on the sill, and used his gloves to push the window upward and open.

At an adequate height, he slid in, careful of Temperence's balance, and followed the cord to the wall socket. He glanced behind him -- it was a little creepy. This room didn't look so bad, but it was still an empty school room in the middle of the day. He knelt and removed the multimeter from one of his cargo pockets, then pulled the camera's plug and checked the socket. Number indicated the normal current levels, and he plugged the camera back in. "Looking good in here," he called.

Ren saw a little green light on the side of the camera turn on after she heard Tesherin call out about the electricity.  She sighed in relief and edged her way back over to the window that he had left open.  She slowly lowered herself down so that she was sitting in the window, facing the classroom.  She glanced around quickly, the empty classroom sending a shiver down her spine.  Even though empty buildings were now common in the area, it was still strange to see places that used to be so crowded, now empty and abandoned.
 
"C'mon, the camera is working now, we should head back." She didn't try to disguise this as question, she wanted to leave before they were caught by someone or something.  One lesson she had learned from being head of a gang; sometimes it was better not to fight.  She glanced at the fire escape and then back at Tesherin, "Fire escape or," she nodded towards the doorway, "condemned building?" She tried to keep a straight face, fearful that a smile would give away her nerves.  It's not that she didn't feel fear, she just didn't like to let it stop her from doing what needed to be done.

He was just standing when Temperence joined him in the classroom, nimbly maneuvering her way through the window to stand near him. She glanced around for only a moment before confirming that the camera was working again and immediately moving on to their escape options. Her business-like manner was a little too hasty, in his eyes - almost like she were trying to hide something. Nervousness, suspicion, anxiety - they were commonplace in Star City now, inside the resistance and out, but those emotions were so detrimental to what they were attempting to accomplish and achieve. Stress kills; sometimes literally nowadays, one of the leaders had warned. Always take a moment to relax: to breathe, to recoup before moving on. Adrenaline is one thing, anxiety is quite another. Release some steam or sit out. 

While he wasn't one-hundred-percent sure that Tempy was feeling nervous or anxious - she could just be hungry or something - Tesh thought a quick break was due. They'd been running for a while, no one knew they were up here, and it was an abandoned building so they were bound to hear something before it showed up, so he made a show of wandering over to the empty teacher's desk and leaning up against it while he unclipped his radio and dialed in their progress, giving her a 'haha, you forgot' smile and a wave of the antenna before pressing the button and calling it in. 

"Crossroads this is Tesh, over."

"Go ahead, Tesh."

"Eyes are green, do you copy?" he asked, using the lame bit of code they had worked out and wishing he had paid more attention to radio messaging in military school. Some Navajo codes would be really useful right about now.

"We copy, eyes are green." Tesh smiled over to Tempy - they had the camera back on screen at their end. Complete success. 

"Over and out," he finished, clipping the radio back to his belt. Well, maybe not complete success - it still remained to be seen if she would go with it or punch him for annoying her. "I think I'll take condemned building for 500," he straightened and shrugged, his expression open and friendly despite the small tension between his shoulder blades. "We could find something worthwhile in here - I'm not sure how well they searched this area before. What do you think?"

He grinned in reply and pushed off of the desk and strode, with no small amount of bravado, towards the door. He glanced up for a moment at the American flag and remembered the pledge he had given every morning of his school life; he paused, recalling it easily: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A shiver crawled up his spine, spreading into his arms. Washington D.C. had been demolished - they were gone, all of them. Congress, the United Nations, their nation's monuments, the White House, the entire population: all gone in the first attack by the Black Moon Clan after securing Sailor Moon. They, like the rest of the world, had no idea the attack was coming, and could do little to defend against it.

He hoped elsewhere, where good men and women around the world were not so close to Diamond's command center, they were giving the Black Moon Clan more hell than just putting up surveillance cameras.

He started forward again, opening the door and turning to playfully beckon Tempy forward, "If you'll just follow me, we'll make our first stop the cafeteria~"

---
They picked up empty backpacks out of the rubble strewn throughout the hallways. The building had seemed whole from their earlier vantage point, but one of the enemy's laser attacks had struck it and made an entire section collapse -- lucky for them, it seemed to have been just classrooms and locker areas; the cafeteria was practically untouched. 

'Practically' meaning it was practically picked clean, but it was still whole-ish. They were loading up with utensils and spices when Tesh got a better idea and, after filling two bags to the brim with miscellaneous cafeteria extras, deposited the bag in a random spot they could easily recover them from at a later date and struck off in another direction entirely, only hinting vaguely to Tempy where he was leading her with two more empty backpacks.

Even though the cafeteria had been thoroughly gleaned for any food or useful item they were still able to fill up two backpacks with utensils and other small items.  It was strange being in this place, it had been built to be full of children, now it was empty.  Ren watched her feet carefully as they walked around, not wanting any foot injuries from broken rubble.  She placed the full backpack next to Tesh's and cocked an eyebrow at him as he took two more empty backpacks off in some other direction.  Curious as to what mischief he was planning she followed closely behind him.

"Now Tesherin, you might be thinking to yourself," Tesh playfully mimed, glancing down hallways in search of the room he sought, "What could be more important than returning to base with ketchup, paprika and forks? Shouldn't we be heading back now?" He spotted it and, finding the hallway mostly clear of debris, he turned to face her, walking backwards with a mischievous expression on his face. "Well, I'll tell you, Tempy. We've gathered food for the stomach, with all that delicious ketchup for flavoring, and now we can," he spun around dramatically, and pointed to the wide double doors they were beside, "Feed minds."

It was the library.

He pushed his way in eagerly, unshouldered and unzipped the pack, and started tossing books in. Picture books, chapter books, novels - anything that he could get his hands on and shove into a bag. People needed an escape, some way to get their minds off what had just happened in the world. Kids needed reassuance, and something to do. Maybe they'd come back for textbooks some day, to keep up with eduation, but for now, they needed the escape.

When their bags were filled to utmost capacity, Tesh took a few moments more to scrounge up some pencils and paper, forcing the implements to fit where he could within the cramped space, then fought to press together the sides to force the zipper to move and close. As the pull tab finally met the bottom stop he rocked back on his heels, grinning with his success. He stood, hoisting the hefty bag up with him, and nearly had to take a few steps to steady himself. The bag was heavy. By the look of hers, Tempy's wasn't any lighter, and for a split second he considered leaving a bag behind and seeing if she wanted to carry one of the cafeteria bags, but immediately reconsidered. She had always been able to hold her own; he'd let her make her own decision about it. 

As he shouldered his pack, she shouldered hers, and he raised his brow appreciatively at her. "Now, I think we should head back," he proclaimed, stepping heavily towards the library doors as he adjusted to the added weight. It would be a long jog back to base, but it'd be worth it when they got there. He just hoped they wouldn't run into any droids on the way. 

Additional Supplies Retrieved: Library Books