Minako Aino treats her friends out for Christmas Eve early dinners, coffees, and important business. Or so she claims. The bill hasn't come yet. The 'important business' is a printed-out jumble of text messages detailing an exchange between a clueless blackmailer and 'Mamoru'. The final page: a time (soon) and a location (a nearby park).
"So, I'm 'a person who knows who Mask and Moon are'. I ignored replies feigning ignorance, claimed I noticed him disappearing from his usual hang-outs right after I started sending these messages. Fished for a payout in exchange for keeping Moon's and Mask's identities secret. He offered to meet up 'somewhere public'."
She takes a few coffee sips (six cubes of sugar), mumbling a half-hearted 'sorry for calling you away from family' apology. It is not honest, but it is sincere. She cuts right to the chase.
"I didn't invite anybody else because I needed the right people for this job. Because of who might show up. Because this is a one-time opportunity. If it's some hired human hand, we go wherever they want and catch the big fish when he comes knocking. If it's some youma, we take it and interrogate it. But 'somebody knows who Moon is' -will- get the attention of somebody from the top. A general. Or maybe somebody we know."
"No matter what, the plan is: capture if we can, take 'em out otherwise. It's a Christmas gift for you, girls."
It IS a Christmas gift, as well as a subtle confession she doesn't know appropriate gifts for her friends.
"So. You both in?"
(The text messages on 'Mamoru's' side are quite obviously not from him. Words are generally spelled out, for instance.)
Ami decided on cocoa instead of coffee, but she sure didn't turn down the dinner. She did, however, curiously keep an eye on Minako throughout their meal, watching as she texted 'someone'. When Minako finally admits to whom, and about what, Ami arches a brow in surprise.
"That seems dangerous," the bluenette notes casually. It's not a judgement; more an analysis. "Still, if it works, it will be worth it. If it doesn't, we may wish we'd brought Makoto. I'm in." There isn't even a hesitance in her tone. "What do you want us to do, specifically?"
Rei Hino accepted the invitation, because of course she did. A chance to have coffee and food with friends... why not? If nothing else, it'd be a chance to spend time with Ami, and also a chance to get to know Minako better.
When Minako drops the news about her scheme, Rei smiles almost mischeviously. They're at war with the Dark Kingdom, and nothing has made that more clear than recent events, so that's all the more reason to pull things like this, right?
"It'll be dangerous, yeah. Hopefully it'll be more dangerous for them than us... after all..." Rei frowns for a moment, "...we've already taken at least one loss."
She takes a sip of her coffee, setting it down again before summarizing, "Sure, capture if we can, kill otherwise, and we don't have any idea who's going to show up. I can be on board with that."
Minako Aino clucks her tongue to each of her friends in turn. She also hopes nobody thinks her weird, because there's no amount of acting and smils she can put on to disguise what might be interpreted as bloodthirstiness on her part.
"It -is- dangerous, Ami. I don't know who might come. I don't want any one getting too emotional or giving up on this one precious chance," she admits.
"Also, three is the optimal number. Any more and they'll know I'm not just some dumb blonde trying rip off a careless vigilante for Christmas money."
She goes back to full smiles and bubbliness when she asks for refills on her coffee, but gets right back to business when everyone else is back out of earshot.
"I need you two to lead the attack. I'll be unarmed and helpless and exposed. Attack when I give a signal. Use the right level of violence, depending on what you think is best. Capture, then kill. But I can't transform 'til the last second."
"So, uhm... don't let them kidnap me away. That's what they'll want to do. That's almost as important as getting one of them. Don't let them take me away."
Ami considers the instructions quietly, as she sips her cocoa. She looks to Rei thoughtfully, then inclines her head. "Okay," she says. "I think I can see how this will work, although I'm not sure Usagi-chan would agree to using you as bait. Still, I think if any of us is going to do so, you're likely the most capable of handling the situation if we mess things up.
"Unfortunately," Ami continues, "your love-me chain is also our best disabling attack. But I'm sure Rei and I can come up with something. Steam can be a terrifyingly appropriate agent for controlling the shape of a battlefield."
'Don't let them kidnap me' she says. Rei suddenly is a lot more worried, considering the Senshi's recent record when it comes to not letting people get kidnapped. Rei frowns and says, "If it's just a youma, then no, you are actually more important. A general, and maybe I could consider that even, if painful... but some small fry who might not even know anything? Not an even trade."
She sips her coffee again before setting it aside. "... aside from that, it seems sound. It's risky, and we'll certainly look after you. If we're looking at a youma, then I think the best plan would be to ofuda it long enough to capture it. If we're looking at a General or something stronger, well... Ofudas might not cover it. We'll have to rely upon what we know about the General in question."
Minako Aino stretches her fingers and grins to Rei. "Thanks, Rei-chan. I always knew I was your favorite," she says, straightening up and taking a nice, calming sigh and enjoying the little bits of caffeine in her.
"Oh Ami-chan. He doesn't need to be immobilized. Just 'not dead'. Between finding out more information or getting a prisoner, we'll be well on our way to doing that rescue I talked about. Anyway, I'm ready to go, girls... unless we want dessert?"
Ami glances towards the dessert cabinet, then shakes her head. "If we capture someone, I'll buy us all dessert afterwards," Ami says as she starts to rise. "Rei-chan and I should probably go get ready," you know, into henshin. "We'll trail you when you leave. Good luck, Minako-chan," she chimes in, as she turns to wait for Rei.
Rei raises an eyebrow at Minako. She's never really sure if the blonde girl is trolling her or not. She assumes by now that Minako is always trolling at least a little bit at all times, but she's still never sure what to think about her.
She turns to Ami and nods, saying, "Yeah, let's go. We wont be far behind." She gets up from the table and starts heading off with Ami to find a place to henshin.
Minako Aino leaves money at the table and a note: 'my friends ran out on me'. A respectable tip, but a little less than she would have left if her friends were watching.
She also looks for a place to henshin (the bathroom), but her outfit isn't for battle - it's just adorable. A Christmas dress appropriate for mall santa elves or holiday TV specials.
She's *easy* to trail to the park, where she settles somewhere nice and dark to wait, letting her friends set up as they please (and hopefully, admire from afar).
Once outside, Ami finds an alleyway to change in, and hastily becomes Sailor Mercury. She glances to Sailor Mars, nods, then leaps to the rooftop. Almost immediately, she activates the Mercury Goggles. "I'm going to switch to infrared," she warns Mars. "Keep an eye out for things too cold for me to see," she asks her friend, then does just that.
From the rooftops, it's simple enough for the two Senshi to trail their friend, leaping from roof to roof in quiet persuit of Santa's not-so-little Helper.
The park would ordinarily have a fair number of passersby, even of an evening. It's not a standard evening, though, and the number of passersby in the specific area named is down to about four. Three of them are senshi.
The fourth is a black-haired teenager of about Mamoru's height and build, dressed in a coat over an Infinity school uniform. He trails in five or ten minutes before the appointed time, glancing carefully over his shoulder and at darkened corners too close to his path - keeping an eye out for ambush. While he'd pass from a distance, or for someone who'd only ever seen Mamoru from a photograph, he's very definitely not the level of doppelganger that the youma on the rooftop was.
Unsurprisingly, Mars can tell that there's something off about him. And also unsurprisingly - the feeling that there was something off, the feeling as if something horrible were standing just behind her and about to touch the back of her neck, did not start with him. Something else is here, waiting.
But nothing else is glowing in the infrared, to Mercury's sight. There's Christmas Minako; there's the not-Mamoru making his way to the arranged meeting; the next largest source of heat in this area of the park is a stray cat bent on keeping as far away from these intruding humans as possible.
After her henshin, Mars nods at Mercury and says, "Right. Infrared, huh? I'll keep my eye out, and I'll try not to blind you too much with my powers then."
As the two of them tail (and possibly admire) the dressed-up Minako, keeping enough distance to not be too noticable, Rei starts to feel her hairs standing on end. Something is very wrong.
It's around then that she notices the boy who looks like but very much isn't Mamoru. It's a weak doppleganger, but she probably could've expected that. Still, even that thing, which she assumes is a youma, isn't really the source of her anxiety.
She whispers softly to Ami, "There's something very wrong about that boy. Also, it feels like there's something else here. We might be walking into a trap."
Christmas Minako (hair all tucked up into her santa hat) stands up and gives a lazy wave to the approaching boy. It's timid and awkward and nervous, although most of it is an act. She's calm but her muscles are tense, wanting to suddenly lash out.
"Hey, over here," she calls out, as if there were others around the park to mistake her for. She immediately starts awkwardly babbling and wasting time, commenting about not seeing him at school, about how maybe paying money for secrets is a good thing, she's an honest girl but blah blah blah, fishing for him to suggest a proper pay-out because she doesn't know how much she can get away with asking. "I... I have a big friend in the bushes," she claims, phrased as a clear lie even though it's metaphorically true if you count rooftops and senshi as 'friends'.
Mostly, just seeing whether he wants to threaten her or suggest they go elsewhere.
Sailor Mercury squints at the boy as he walks down the path, then nods to Rei. "Last time we caught someone like him," she murmurs softly, "the general possessing him stayed just long enough to share some information, and then ..." well, actually, didn't she douse the boy with water?
Ami frowns and fails to finish the thought; instead, she leans in a little closer to watch. "If we're going to get anything out of him, it will be because he wants us to. This is how we found out about the Orphanage," she notes unhappily. "I wish I'd reminded Minako-chan of that. I don't like this."
The teenager starts visibly when Minako appears out of the dark, and takes two steps back as if expecting something other than a wave. But she calls, and he makes his way forward again. Warily. Keeping an eye on the bushes. "I bet you do," he mutters when she makes her claim about having a big friend; his voice isn't near right for Mamoru's, either. One hand ventures near to the pocket of his coat for a moment, but he pulls it back and folds his arm, listening to the babbling; the uncertain look he gets as it goes on is a familiar one for Minako.
"Look," he says finally. "I think you're crazy." And that's why his eyes are darting from one side to the other, nervous. "And I don't like blackmail to start off with. If you were right, and I was somebody, and I paid you to keep quiet, I'd have to keep paying you forever, right? So that's not a good idea. But ... this isn't about me, is it? This is about her. And that - might be worth it to me. If you actually know something about her. About Sailor Moon." He pauses, and his eyes focus on Venus for the first time. Brown, not blue. The hint of avarice when he leans in, overriding the nervousness ... that's probably real. "Can you prove it?"
"I don't completely like it either," says Mars to Mercury, quietly, "but she's a veteran, and she knows what she's getting herself into. I have faith in that. However, that doesn't mean things will go smoothly, and that doesn't mean we won't have to scrap the plan if things go south."
Mars peers at the boy through the bushes, studying him closely, seeing what he's up to, watching for sudden movements. She draws an ofuda from her pocket, keeping it in hand.
"Can you hear what they're saying?" she asks Mercury.
Minako Aino stresses that she's a good person and it's not blackmail (said with the intonation of somebody who said it before - it might be good acting, it might be practice). "I... I just want my family to have a good Christmas. And you're rich, so, liiiike, a little one-time payment is worth it, for both of us," she explains with all the passion of a kid caught with a hand in the cookie jar.
Then, with the air of a criminal who cannot keep from bragging about her crimes, she makes up a story on the spot, entirely fabricated: "Well, if I just happened to see you put on your top hat at the same time she put on her fuku, it's real real easy to put it together. Remember, I go to school with you," she explains.
"So, uh, I mean... I don't have any PHYSICAL evidence but enough of us can just follow you both around or somethin', go to your homes with camera, like the papa-rocksies, wait 'til we catch you. But the REAL evidence is that you're here, asking about it," she says with a wink.
"Uhm. Did you come alone? Is she with you?"
Ami grimaces and shakes her head. "No, not really," the bluenette admits. "I can make out a few words, now and then, when she stresses them. I think he's nervous, though. We really should have discussed a way to get her to call this off," she notes unhappily.
"That's only real evidence that I'm a fan," the teenager protests to Minako's claim. But that glint of avarice is still there, and he leans in a little closer. "-- I've got a friend. With me." Honest. "But that's not the important part. The important part is. Who exactly do you think Sailor Moon really is? Go ahead. Tell me. And I can make sure your family has a really good Christmas." His hand drifts toward that pocket again.
The boy's leaning in. Mars is practically leaning in. And off to the side, up on the rooftop level --
One moment, Mercury could perceive off to the side the faint glow of some critter or bird or other, sleeping in its nest. The next, the glow of its heat is occluded by something cold, unseen in the darkness. Something else leaning in, watching closely.
And just a trifle, just the smallest bit, Mars' feeling of something-wrong gets worse at the same time.
"Well, that might be the evidence, but if the police investigate both of you, they're probably gonna find it out," Christmas-Minako notes.
She feels the tension ramp up and the need to *do* something. He wants to draw a name from her. She wants to get a decision from him.
He's clearly not a real Mamoru. He clearly doesn't recognize her. So she turns to walk away, letting the whole situation drop with a casual smile.
"I'll see you both in school. You gotta' be more careful. If *I* saw you both do it, somebody else there might have too. I don't want competition!" she says. "Anyways, think it over. Tempt me with something pretty. It doesn't have to be lots of money, just... you know, make me a good offer," she says, as if she's about to skip off.
Mars is indeed leaning in, carefully watching. Minako and the doppleganger are talking. Mars shrugs and says, "Well, we could've prepared for this a bit more yeah. I guess we're just going to have to roll with it either way, right? She could always scream or struggle or flee if she wants to. There are things she can do."
Mars suddenly looks away. What is she looking at? She doesn't know, but something feels wrong. She looks over to Mercury and whispers, "Heads up, that impending sense of doom just got worse."
"Mmm, I see it," Ami replies quietly to Mars as she squints in the direction of the critter. "He's building up a small army of youma," she notes to Rei. "That was something in a tree. Plus the boy. There was a cat at the entrance; I won't be surprised if that thing winds up possessed, too. Damnit," curses Mercury--a rare sound indeed. "I wish she'd give the signal. We need to act soon or we're going to wind up overwhelmed."
About to skip off? The boy reaches for Minako's arm, fast. (Clearly doesn't know, himself. Doesn't know they don't go to the same school. Doesn't know that laying hands on Minako is one of the least healthy things he could do, about now.) It's a quick grab, trying to keep her from getting away. And it's only one-handed. His other hand snags something out of his pocket, holding it up. A small package, wrapped in something that catches just a bit of the light - clear plastic? colored plastic? - tied with a ribbon whose knot matches the one Minako, or more importantly Sailor V, habitually wears in her hair.
His grin is showing too many teeth, now, and too sharp, as the human visage starts to wear off. "I might have something pretty for you," he says. "If you say the right things."
Minako Aino makes a mock gasp. "Is that an authentic actual Sailor Moon ribbon? Is she watching? Did she give you permission to offer that to me?" she asks, eyes getting a little squinty as if doing some mental calculations.
"I could eBay that. She's gotta be watching if you're doing that. Hi Sailor Moon! See you at school after the Chrismas break!" she says, shouting it louder than one should shout if it were an occupied park.
"But..... I was sorta' hopin' for something a little more valuable. I don't wanna look like a crazy fangirl or a collector..."
Her voice trails off and she starts to peek around, attention drifting, still tense. She does not overreact to being grabbed, just sort of harmlessly twisting her torso with an iota of her full strength. Unimposing. Minimally uncomfortable.
Mars frowns at Mercury's conclusions. "A swarm of Youma? So then... they're really after that information."
She looks down at the ofuda in her hand, putting it away. "If we have to move in, it might be best if you put your fog up, then I'll set as many youma on fire as I can."
Mars frowns harder. "He just grabbed her?" She begins to stand, but she hesitates. She's still waiting for a signal, but when she gets it she wants to act immediately.
Mercury grimaces as Minako is grabbed. "You have no idea how tempted I am to raise the fog now," she tells Rei unhappily. "What is she waiting for?" she asks.
Harmless twisting results in the teenager - or to give him the steadily more evident name, the youma - hauling on Minako's arm, trying to pull her in closer. "You really aren't any more than you look like, are you." He scowls at her, and tosses the package aside to rustle in the bushes. "Just some stupid kid with dumb ideas. You were supposed to be her. If I'm in trouble because of you --" And he turns his head, glancing back up toward the place where something cold intruded on Mercury's view.
The shadows among the branches shimmer and partly dissolve. Not entirely; after the last time, Kunzite is not about to lower his shields anytime there's the slightest of chances the senshi might be in the area. He leaps to the ground in a casual motion. Not quite as casual as he might have. For someone who got as thoroughly stabbed as he did a couple of weeks ago, he's remarkably upright, but whatever healed him hasn't quite finished the job.
"That's all right," he says easily to the youma. "If this isn't one of Venus' traps, we can still find a use for her." He starts to cross the ground between them, lifting a hand and letting his lightning-shot shadows pool in it. "And if it is, then it still has a chance to be interesting."
Minako Aino does a sufficient job of putting on a show of nervousness and fear, backing up and jerking at her shoulder, eyes wide with something that could be fright or confusion.
"What? That's not Sailor Moon?" she says, as if legitimately upset that Kunzite isn't her princess. "Who are you?"
She speaks with a steady voice that doesn't quite synch up with the fearful body language she's trying desperately to convey.
Her eyes drift up past Kunzite's shoulder. She's not making eye contact with him, but rather her senshi allies and, more metaphorically, the element of surprise. She raises a finger accusingly in what could be seen as the vague imitation of a crescent beam. Then nods her head.
"It's not a Venus trap. I'm just an innocent girl out in the park," she claims. "This nice public, safe park."
"I just wanted witnesses."
Oh thank God, there's the signal. Mercury immediately raises her fingers, "MERCURY AQUA MIST!" she calls, and Tokyo responds. A heavy fog rolls in off the bay, rapidly expanding unnaturally fast to cover the entire park.
Mercury doesn't wait for Mars to start flinging fire; she just grabs the wall and immediately repositions, heading towards a tree where she can continue to observe the battlefield through her visor rather than trying to get directly involved. Not yet.
Mars shrugs. "For something of value, I imagine. Or some kind of confirmation. It'll be a waste of time if we do all of this and she doesn't get anything out of it."
Then Kunzite appears. Mars sees the crescent shape. That's all she needs to see. She's bounding off of that rooftop, fire blazing in her hands. She doesn't wait to give a Justice speech this time. Mercury's provinding cover, and she wants to make the best of that.
Remembering Kunzite's energy redirection tactics, she actually doesn't attack him right away. Two fireballs, one from each hand, get flung at that youma, however.
Only after having given away her presence does she shout, "We've got unfinished business, Kunzite!"
The problem with that fog is that Mercury can only track some of the participants, now. Mars is a beacon. Venus and the youma don't glow as brightly -- oh. No. Now one of them is glowing far brighter than the other. Must be the youma. But Kunzite, to her infrared, is nowhere to be seen. His preferred defenses are designed to absorb energy - that must include heat, or she'd have been able to perceive him from the beginning.
There are those moments before the mist rolls in, though, when they can see him perfectly clearly; body language for Mars and Mercury, expression in peripheral vision from Venus. When he's straightening even a little more than usual at Minako's voice not-quite-matching her persona, at her choice of words. At her choice of those final words.
Minako's the only one in range to see his eyes widening at them, and the start of a taunting smile that -- doesn't, quite, match his eyes. There's something else there, just for an instant. Just for a moment, he almost looks genuinely pleased.
Then the fog billows around him, and even if it hampered the senshi as much as it hampers him - which it doesn't - his laughter would still be almost the best way to find him. "So we do, Mars!" he calls back. "Missing someone, aren't you? Or isn't Jupiter out of the hospital yet?"
The youma might be contributing something to the conversation. Except that it had only and exactly enough time to blink, and to start to reach for Minako with its other hand. Then Mars' fireballs impact, and it's thrown past her, losing its grip on the girl in the process. It rolls frantically, trying to put out the flames. Its nature is clearer and clearer, now; apparently greed and avarice look ... more like an anglerfish than anything else. Those teeth really don't go with the school uniform.
Minako Aino lets her expression become neutral in reply to taunting smiles and doesn't seem surprised when the fog rolls in.
What does surprise her is the youma suddenly accelerating past her in a clearly-not-voluntary motion, what with its body unpleasantly snapping about and fire surrounding it. She lowers her beam finger now after Kunzite starts to fade into the mist - then, she actually relaxes.
She mentally reminded herself to thank Mars later. The trouble she thought she would have in clearing the space and letting Sailor Venus out just (almost quite literally) melted away at her feet, rolling around pathetically. Now it was Venus' turn to burn pale and hot like a star, even if the fog obfuscates it.
"Mercury, Mars! Focus on the general. Jupiter! Moon! Wait for the signal and hit him while he's down!" she shouts into the fog.
As an afterthought, she changes her location. A few hops to her side. She's late to the fight she herself started and takes a moment to prepare herself.
Mercury spots Venus. She spots the Youma. She spots Mars. What she doesn't spot is the general. With a frown, Mercury reaches up and adjusts her visor to work on sonic waves, instead of infrared, then smiles when the fourth figure comes into view. "Gotcha," she murmurs, then leaps forward out of the tree, only to slap the ground a scant two meters away from Kunzite. "Hyperspatial Sphere: Generate!" she declares.
And then the world changes. The little bubble of inverse universe forms around her first, then rapidly expands outwards. The fog is left behind. The trees and the pretty park are left behind. All that is left are Mercury, Venus, Mars, the Youma, and Kunzite, in a negative space with no features, no obvious dimensions, and infinite possibilities. "Checkmate," she declares excitedly.
"The only person we're missing..." shouts Mars, going along with Venus's bluff. "...is the one you took from us! If you think I was chastising your youma then wait until I get a hold of you!"
Then Mercury's plan goes into action, the sphere forms around them, and Mars takes a moment to regain her bearings. She was practically blinded by the fog for a bit, after all.
Seeing the youma on fire, she sends a few more fireballs at the monster just to make sure. Then she turns to Kunzite and raises her fists.
"Looks like we've got you where we want you. We want answers, and we're very impatient."
Late to the fight? No. Just in time. Everyone's collecting closer to Venus, which leaves them in perfect range for Mercury's Sphere. The energy that Kunzite had been collecting to use to try to corrupt Minako's blackmailer-persona - that's been reabsorbed; he has both hands lifted, now, ready to use them to direct his magics. But not, quite, actually attacking. He is outnumbered three to one, after all.
The youma writhing and whimpering doesn't count, especially after Rei fireballs it right back into being a teenager again. An unconscious one. Not going to be much help or hindrance in this fight, but at least it's substantially less disturbing-looking when it's out cold.
The three Senshi, then, and the General, in Mercury's negative space, and the General wrapped in his own sphere of shadows within it. And nothing else that's about to interrupt them.
"Where you want me?" Kunzite lets his eyebrows arch, half-scornful, and he gestures about the negative-space. But -- the gesture does not lash out with lightning, does not send shadows to try to consume any of them. Though he does keep his head turned so that he can watch Mars. And Venus. Both. "Really, Mercury. Do you think this is going to restrict my movements in the slightest? I'm not the one playing chess."
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus doesn't have anything to say for now. She continues stepping to the side, trying to make a roughly triangular shape around Kunzite with her friends.
"Keep the space up unless somebody drops and we need reinforcements, Mercury," she says, with an almost relaxed air.
"Girls. If he could leave, he would have. I know I would," she says, maneuvering further behind Kunzite. Then she plants her feet. No sense of urgency in her now. "I bet the dark goes out faster than my light. No hurries."
With her sphere created, Mercury stands once more. "I'm sorry, did you think 'checkmate' means your movements are restricted?" she asks with arched brows. "Because I said nothing of the sort. That's the problem with you villains: even the cleverest among you always thinks you're ready for more than you are. Of course you can move wherever you want in here," she says with a sniff.
"You could probably teleport in here, if you try hard enough. But what you cannot do is go somewhere that I cannot follow." Here, Mercury narrows her eyes. "I am Sailor Mercury," she informs Kunzite unnecessarily, "the Agent of Love and Wisdom. And you, Kunzite, are just a cheap rock. Douse yourself with water and repent. We want Tuxedo Mask back, and if you give him to us we'll help you escape from her, too."
Mars keeps an eye on the youma, at least long enough to be sure that it doesn't get back up. Once she's sure it's dealt with she leaves it alone.
Her eyes glance to her allies for a moment, and Mars starts shuffling to the side to complete that triangle. Her fists stay up, and she focuses back on Kunzite.
"I think we've made ourselves clear. There's really only one way this can go, Kunzite."
"Then you're monitoring it closely enough to tell --" It's Mercury that Kunzite's speaking to, still; he ought to be shifting as Venus moves, keeping her in his peripheral vision. He doesn't, though his shoulders tense with the effort. He laughs instead, and says with a growing note of admiration, "You'd know if we were being watched. Here I was trying to give you a gift, and you've outdone me."
His expression shifts as he's speaking that last sentence. The mockery drains away, and what's left in its place is something merely determined, quietly haunted. He lowers his hands and sinks to one knee, bowing his head. Not entirely a gesture of trust. He doesn't banish the shadows that guard him. But he's not poised to attack anymore, either.
"I can't give him back to you," he says. "Beryl has him." No titles, no honorifics. "You'll have to win him back. All I can tell you is that it is, it must be, possible. When Princess Serenity came back to herself -- he heard her."
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus shifts her feet on the ground. They drag. They make sounds. It doesn't matter if it's a tell - attacks have to come from somewhere and Kunzite certainly has narrowed down the possibilities to one of three locations.
Possibly three.
"Mars, burn him. Telling us what we already know and what we're already going to do doesn't save you from a conflagration," she comments, like she's correcting an errant student.
For a girl who just got done saying 'there's only one way this can go', Mars is actually very surprised at how this is going. She drops her fists, and tilts her head.
"What the heck?"
She turns to Venus for a moment. Isn't using fire on him a bad idea, actually? Well, if he's surrendering... On the other hand, this is a tricky guy who has already heavily decieved them in a very bad way. No matter how sincere he sounds...
"Yeah, I'm not buying it. You'll have to do better than that." Mars does fling a fireball at him, but just one, and not quite as hot as it could've been. A warning, since Kunzite has seen it can get much worse. Plus it'll be nice to know if he can still redirect that energy.
Mercury blinks at Venus in surprise, but she doesn't argue with the order. Instead, she watches Kunzite's reaction curiously. And she also keeps talking. "That's *not* all you can tell us," she pipes up in agreement with Venus. "You can tell us where to find him. How to get to him. What her weaknesses are. There's so much you can tell us," she explains to Kunzite. "We're changing the story this time, Kunzite; we're not going to let you kill him again. And we're not going to let you hurt Sailor Moon, either."
Kunzite holds where he is, despite Venus' orders; doesn't come up out of that pose in an attack, doesn't lash out at her magically, or physically, or aloud. He only stays where he is, and keeps hold on his shields. Mars isn't putting much effort into her attack; his shadows swallow it whole, and leave silence afterward for Mercury to speak into.
He doesn't redirect the fireball back at any of them, either. Just keeps the energy that composed it to himself, for the moment. Incidental confirmation of another of Mercury's theories in passing.
"I have no intention of hurting Sailor Moon further if I can help it," he says quietly. An important caveat, there. "I can't guarantee for how long I can help it; if Beryl learns I have this much of myself back, she'll - remedy the problem." He lifts his head, glancing to Mercury, then Mars, watching her for the moment. "I could tell you where to find him, and how to get to him. But if I told you that, you'd use it. And even at the rate you're recalling your powers, you're not strong enough yet for any of you to survive that. If you can find the Silver Crystal before Beryl does, you'll have a chance."
He tilts his head back an inch or so more, as if to indicate Venus. "And yes, of course I'm claiming that I'm using you five to try to find the thing, then planning to take it away from you if you do. I trust you won't permit that.
"As for Beryl's weaknesses - I can't tell you what I don't know. I died before she did, last time. What I do know - impatience. Arrogance. Endymion. Nothing's changed, there."
"Remarkably honest of you. Or deceptive," Sailor Venus comments. She moves to make an attack but hesitates, watching fireballs disappear and seemingly unwilling to contribute to Kunzite's senshi energy collection.
"Still, I think I'll be the judge of what we do with the knowledge of his location. All you need to do is figure out if you want to join your friends with us, under lock and key of course, or get turned to ashes."
"I'm indifferent, but some of us have mixed opinions," she says, still impatient, not having much to say and letting everybody else handle the talking part.
"Still. Do you think we'd be looking for a way in if we didn't have our princess *and* our crystal?"
Mars asks her own questions this time, taking one step closer to Kunzite as she speaks. "She has a weakness for Endymion? What do you mean by that?" She remembers Usagi shouting out the name Endymion, and she knows why the Shitennou would want to capture Mamoru, but she still doesn't know why Beryl would care.
The rest of it is listened to, but not necessarily believed. It'd be a very convenient story. Kunzite isn't really an enemy, but a sympathetic agent against Beryl and forced to do terrible things under some kind of threat.
She glances towards Venus for a moment, but is quick to focus her attention back on Kunzite.
"We're going to need that information sooner or later, even if we don't use it right away."
Mercury's theories are proving frighteningly true at an alarming pace. She takes a step away from Kunzite, even as Mars takes a step closer. It seems her line of questioning has ended, for now; or maybe she just agrees with the sentiments of Venus and Mars, because she doesn't chime in again, right away.
"If you had your princess and your crystal," Kunzite says, still not fighting Venus's position at his back, "Her Highness would already have burned through the damage to whatever it is the two of them have. You wouldn't be worrying about taking Endymion back. She'd already know where he was, and already have dragged all of you off to go get him." There's something in his tone that's just the faintest bit affectionately amused. It's not an uncommon sound, among people who have ever met Usagi in any form.
Then Mars asks that question, and any amusement drops away to a quiet calm, and he closes his eyes. "Beryl was one of Earth's court, in the beginning," he says. "She had a habit of watching our Prince, when she thought no-one was looking. We thought it was harmless; half the unattached girls at court did that. But the power she serves has a way of turning not just vices to its purposes, but virtues. I don't know whether it was love she felt, in the beginning, or just ambition. Either one would have served to make her hate the Moon Kingdom, and Princess Serenity. That's how all of this began. And in this age - that hasn't changed. Except that now she believes she has a chance at keeping him for herself. She's wrong. But as long as she believes it, as long as she doesn't know the Princess has been reborn, she won't - do him too much harm."
"Sounds like a convenient excuse not to tell us what we want to know."
Sailor Venus makes a little sweeping motion with her hand. "And lots of excuses to humanize all you Dark Kingdom guys. I don't care about any past life junk," she says, choosing not to cuss. Senshi need to be good role models.
"All I know is you're ruining Christmas and endangering my people. Now. Today. And every moment you don't give us something we want to know is a moment one of your peoples wonders why a five minute grab-and-run kidnapping scheme is taking so long."
"Kunzite, what you should be doing here is giving us a reason not to destroy you." It's phrased like a request. But she's already decided that the answer won't be good enough and prepares herself accordingly.
"Wait wait wait," says Mars, holding up her hands. "Are you telling me... that this whole thing... all of this war, the tragic past lives, and all of this Dark Kingdom..." she rolls her hand as she tries to find the words, "... stuff..."
She places her knuckles on her hips, leans forward, and says, "You're telling me that it's all because Beryl was jealous?! Because she coveted a prince who loved someone else?"
She doesn't speak for a while after that. She is too mad for words.
"He's telling the truth," Mercury observes to Venus faintly. "And besides that, we can't destroy him. Not without Moon here," she notes with a sigh. "And he knows that, too. No matter what we throw at him, he's going to absorb it and gain in power. Kunzite isn't stupid," she nods to him, then adds, "But everything he's saying matches my own data. He's telling the truth, Venus. Mars. So instead of threatening him with a threat we can't keep, why don't we ask him better questions? Where is she, Kunzite? Where is Endymion? Whether we choose to attack or not is up to us. You don't have the right to make that decision, and we're going to find the answer one way or another. If you tell us now, I will do what I can to make certain we don't go until we are truly ready. But part of being ready is knowing your enemy; knowing where he's at may give us the information we need to prepare for that fight."
"All that it takes to fall," Kunzite answers Mars quietly, "all that it takes to make a space for that power to come in, is to want something badly enough that the bargain you're offered sounds like a good idea. Beryl wanted Endymion."
He comes to his feet. The motion should be graceful and deft, but there's a hitch in it and a grimace that accompanies it, courtesy of Kyouko's spear and Venus's distraction. Reasons he's been invisible for a couple of weeks. He turns to face Mercury. "I'm under orders to have faith in you," he says to her. The calm in his voice doesn't so much as ripple when he adds, "I'm not under orders to help any of you commit suicide. Look at Venus. Listen to what you're saying to her. Do you really believe that, if she knew where to find Beryl, she wouldn't make a try for her? I will not tell you where that witch lairs until you have a chance at surviving it. I'll help you as I can, for the time I have. I'll come up with reasons to stall. I'll minimize the damage I have to do. I'll try to keep Endymion sane. I'll try to do something about Jadeite and Zoisite - Endymion is enough of an idiot that he still wants us alive. I will help you every way I have a chance of getting away with. But do not ask me that. Do you understand?"
And he turns once more, and looks directly at Venus.
"Beryl wanted Endymion," he says quietly, "enough to sell her soul for him. I wanted to protect my prince, enough to believe I knew better than he did what he needed. You want to protect your princess. Do that. Do whatever you have to for that. But for the sake of all that's holy, Venus, don't make my mistakes while you're doing it."
"Says the man who was going to drag me to hell and torture out the information you wanted to know," is what she mutters under her breath.
"I hear you. Will do~" is what Sailor Venus says with a promising salute and tap of her forehead. "You have my full trust," she swears. It only comes out a little sarcastic.
She sat back and let her friends do all the work so far.
She's hasn't used any of her attacks or power yet. She lowers her fingers and aims carefully, intending to change that.
"I can still kick him in the shins," observes Mars, to Mercury. "I mean it's no Fire Soul but I have these high heels. Just saying."
As Kunzite rises, Mars frowns. "I don't really think I can believe you. Sorry. No matter how earnest you sound, you haven't given us anything useful. Why should we trust you, even a little?"
Mars sighs, looking between Mercury and Venus. She crosses her arms and stands back upright. It's then that she notices what V is about to do.
"You know that's pointless, right? I mean the fire proved that."
Mars is starting to worry about Venus a bit. She's trying to be rational, and in many ways she is, but she also seems a bit too eager to fight?
On the other hand, it would be just like the Dark Kingdom to turn friends against one another.
"Actually, he's given us a few things that are useful," Mercury protests gently. But only very gently, because this is likely one of those things only Mercury sees, through her sapphire-tinted glasses.
But it's Kunzite she addresses once more to ask, "Would you tell me, if I vouched to withhold the information from my sisters until I am certain we are ready?"
Kunzite doesn't argue with Sailor Venus's mutterings. Maybe because they're wrong, but he knows there wouldn't be a point. Maybe because they're right. He doesn't argue with her taking aim, either -
- but he doesn't drop his shields.
"What proof could I give you, Mars?" he asks. "Anything I say could be a lie. Or could be a piece of truth, given to bait you into believing me, or into doing the wrong thing. The only evidence I have that Serenity's still capable of reaching Endymion - Mercury would have to return us to the park to find that; and Venus said that you knew that already. Even if you asked me a question that I could answer safely, and that you could verify the answer to, you wouldn't know why I gave it. And that's safest, in the end. If you don't trust me, then you won't use what I tell you, and Beryl won't be able to divine from your actions that you have information you shouldn't. And if you don't trust me, then when Beryl notices her hold on me has slipped and repairs it, you won't have your guard down long enough for me to kill you. So it's best, perhaps."
And then Mercury asks her question, and Kunzite is, for a moment, only silent.
He's still facing Venus when he says only, "Yes."
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus hesitates for a few moments longer. It'll probably be useless information or a trap, but she holds her weirdly glowing hand level and nods towards Kunzite.
Grudgingly, her nose wrinkles and she gets actually angry.
"Ah. Fine. But speak fast. Like a girl with a stolen credit card, I can't keep charging forever."
Mars glances towards Mercury, then back to Kunzite. "Fine. I trust Mercury-chan to hold onto that information. I also trust her to be careful with it. This is acceptable."
Mars stares, focused, on Kunzite. She frowns. It's true, there's absolutely no reason he could give that would make him trustworthy. Well, actually, there's one thing. If Moon purified him, she could trust him then, but that's not really an option right now is it?
The problem is, there's only one way to safely go about this. So Mercury takes a deep breath to gather her own self-confidence, then takes a gamble, "Okay. Mars, Venus, go ahead and leave. The barrier won't hold you in," she notes, and a small exit appears in the negative space, as if inviting them. "Once you're gone, Kunzite can tell me the information."
And then there will be so much else to do.
"And then I'll let you go," Ami promises Kunzite, "and hope that Beryl doesn't figure any of this out. For all of our sakes."
"Or I could bring Mercury within my defenses, and the two of you could stay," Kunzite notes as an almost clinical aside. "But I doubt that would be any more acceptable."
Witnesses. After all.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus tenses up as dozens of thoughts and various possible outcomes go through her mind. Kunzite clearly doesn't want to die, everybody is lying in degrees, and she can't multiply the chances of good outcomes by bad outcomes with any sort of verifiable accuracy.
For a moment, she considers just attacking him right there and forcing the issue, throw it all to chance and luck and fate, hedging her bets on numbers, surprise, and Mercury's home field advantage bubble.
She doesn't, though.
She turns and walks away. "Remember the plan."
"Come on Mars. Merc's got this," she says across her shoulder.
Mars glances over to Mercury, then to Kunzite, and back to Mercury. She wishes there was a way to further ensure Mercury's safety, but... to a certain extent Mercury also seems to be the master of this domain. It'll have to do.
Then Kunzite presents another option. Mars is ready to consider it, if the others are in favor, but Venus makes the choice for her. "Looks like our choice has been made. We'll be wating, Merc-chan."
She follows Venus out of the exit. They're just going to have to take this gamble.
Mercury's eyes widen at Kunzite's offer. There is a part of her that wants to accept it, because the data she could get inside that bubble is enormous. The rest of her is terrified of being that close to him. Could she even survive inside that bubble?! Probably, or he wouldn't be offering. Unless it was a clever ploy.
She shakes her head at him, but the other two Senshi are already agreeing with her decision, and she gives them both a brief, hopefully reassuring smile before they depart.
"Alright," Mercury says to Kunzite, as she looks back to him. "You have my word: Not until I'm certain we are ready. Out with it. Where is he? Where is she? And what else do you think we need to know?"
"He is with her, much of the time. Not all of it." Kunzite turns enough to face Mercury, folding his arms as he does; even so, he doesn't look at her. Not quite. Head turned a little away. "Likely less so as time goes on. She's impatient. She gets bored. She is - well. Her kingdom is not on or of Earth, not anymore. It was, once, I think; but the Earth would only abide some of the things inside it for so long. So, like the gardens under the catacombs in Paris, it pushed them away. It is not quite of the same nature as this place you've generated; it is far larger, and for the most part self-sustaining. There is an access point on Earth, inside the Arctic Circle. A crater protected with illusions. The caves there can lead you down into it."
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus privately confides in Mars. Speaks quietly but quickly.
"She's got a trick up her sleeve. I assume. I hope I didn't leave her to die. It's a fair risk, right? Ah. Ah. It'll be fine."
"Capture or kill. That's the plan. I hope it's capture. I'm going to be so jealous, no matter which way it goes."
Mars stands next to Venus, looking back the way they came, before glancing back to Minako.
"Yeah... I hope not, too, but this feels like the right choice to make. I mean, she's basically lord and master of that domain. I hope."
She reaches up to scratch the back of her head saying, "Ugh. On the one hand it feels... honest? But on the other hand it's just way too convenient, like it's too good to be true... but yeah. Maybe she can capture him like that. She certainly seemed able to keep him in there."
Mercury considers Kunzite's response for a moment, then pulls the Mercury computer out of wherever she keeps it in that short Fuku. Hammerspace, most likely. In a moment she has up a map of the northern arctic, which she turns to show to Kunzite. "Latitude and longitude of the cave," she instructs him. "Or if you don't have that, then pinpoint it on this map for me so that I can discern it. And I swear on my power, Kunzite, that if you are lying to me right now, I will find every single way to make you regret this, and enact them personally. I know you're scared of Venus because of how clever she is, but I promise you that all that fear of Venus will be nothing compared to what I will do if you are lying to me right now. I'm risking my friendships for you, right now. Don't ... make me regret this."
An eyebrow is arched at Mercury, before Kunzite draws in his shadows, pulls them back to flicker over his skin rather than occupying space around him. It takes an effort; the faint frown is more concentration than any other reaction. "I'm not afraid of Venus," he replies, and it's almost even true. He steps toward Mercury and her computer. "All she could do to me is kill me again." And the rest of them. "I'm afraid for her. But she has the rest of you. You have a better chance than we did."
He says nothing whatsoever about whether he's afraid of Mercury. He only reaches out to indicate a point on the screen, very near the North Pole. Where there is no possibility, from everything most people understand, of craters or caves. But his hand is steady, and he's careful not to risk actual contact with the map. Or with Mercury.
"Of course it's too good to be true. We'll have to throw out half of whatever he gives us. It's a trap or something to drop in an emergency. But we can use it," Sailor Venus comments.
She assumes she's right. She's not sure.
"We can get more. Probably. Somehow. If we get him alive, he'll tell us more eventually. Prisoner exchange? That'll definitely get us something. I don't know yet. We just gotta wait it out!"
"At least once we have the information we can verify it or at least look into it," says Mars. "We'll have to sort it out somehow." Fortunately, Mercury would be the one doing a lot of the double-checking, so she'll have that information.
She turns to Venus, tapping her chin. "Yeah, that's if he can be held captive. I hate this waiting, but... we don't have much choice right now."
Mercury inspects the place on the map, then mentally notes the latitude and longitude. "Good enough," she tells him after a quiet moment, then looks up to Kunzite. She studies him for a long moment as she disappears the Mercury Computer back to wherever she keeps it.
"Don't make me regret this," Ami says again, imploring him.
She maintains the look for a full minute, and then wills the hyperspatial sphere away. Normalcy returns to the world for Kunzite and Mercury both. And they're far enough away that Kunzite has at least some chance to get away before Venus and Mars attack again. If he's quick.
That full minute is not a silent one. "Understand," Kunzite says quietly. "They're thinking about fighting Beryl. Right now, you can't fight me directly, except by taking advantage of my mistakes." Like sympathy. Which has worked pretty well for them so far, especially where Venus and Kyouko have been concerned. He leaves that aside, and gestures at her computer. "You know I haven't been using the full extent of my powers. If I were - where the five of you stand right now, even Moon wouldn't be able to destroy me unless I did something to permit her.
"So. You can't fight me. I can't fight Beryl; even if she had no power over me already, she could destroy me as quickly as Mars took down that youma. And Beryl herself is a pawn, not a queen. There's worse there. The Dark Kingdom's ruler - I don't know what it is; but it was never human. Beryl is a convenience for it. Before you can risk any of them going there ... you need to find a way to oppose that. And you need to do it before Beryl gathers enough power to wake it again."
He doesn't ask Mercury to keep that secret. He only watches her -
- and when the sphere vanishes, he lashes out, shadow-filled lightning striking across the distance between him and Mercury. Missing. Barely.
Keeping up appearances. And maybe, maybe, buying a moment in which he has the chance to teleport out.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus snaps her eyes up and then... off to one side obliquely from where she was waiting.
"Aurrrg. That doesn't sound like Kunzite dying, Mercury," she shouts, adjusting her eyes and then her aim to match. She actually takes a moment to jump to the side, away from Mars so she doesn't burn in her fire, before throwing her first Crescent Beam of the night danger-close past Mars' face and Mercury's face at Kunzite's face.
Everybody should be wearing goggles.
Mars glances over as Mercury and Kunzite reappear. Kunzite seems to be making his escape. She's about to charge right into battle when suddenly a CRECENT BEAM passes by her face, blocking her view and also outright blinding her for a moment.
By the time she blinks the dots out of her eyes, Kunzite has had plenty of time to run. She goes running after him anyways, or at the very least she goes running up to Mercury.
Mercury lets out a legitimate shrieks of surprise as Kunzite's attack nearly clips her. She dodges right--and nearly gets a faceful of Crescent Beam for her troubles.
This is the thanks she gets?! Some days it does not pay to be Sailor Mercury.
Other days are like today. Mercury calls out, "Mercury Aqua Mist!" raising a heavy fog for the second time this evening. "I'm sorry, he overwhelmed me! It was a trick! I messed up."
Everybody should be wearing goggles. Kunzite is wearing shadows - which Venus already knows don't entirely block light, since he has to be able to see. Worse, they're still gathered in close to him, giving the Crescent still more power in that regard.
On the other hand, he's also wearing that damn cape. He pulls it up sharply, trying to shield his eyes from the brightness. It almost half-works. And, unlike almost everyone else on the planet, he still has a face after the impact. He's not even bleeding -
- but his eyes are not focusing, and he's apparently not inclined to push his luck. Darkness flares around him, less controlled than usual, a rush of it from sky to ground laced with that cold lightning; and he's gone.
Not back to the Dark Kingdom, because the hell if he's going to venture into there without being able to see if something's about to try to kill him while he's not looking. Across the city will do. For right now.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus roars out like a wounded lioness witnessing her cubs die. "Nooo! Where did he go? Find out right now!" she demands, discharging half of another Crescent Beam that comes into being a few seconds too late through sizzling fingertips up into the night sky where it harmlessly dissipates.
She doesn't even know which way to look now, just looking back and forth and even occasionally up.
Mars continues running up to Mercury. Kunzite is gone, she knows that. She reaches Mercury and throws her arms around her. She holds her tightly. Very tightly.
Her dark eyes glance over to Venus, who is clearly upset. Mars takes in a deep breath, and then lets it out.
"He's gone. Forget it. Let's just go. What happened has already happened. We've taken enough life-or-death risks for today."
Mercury leans into Mars' hug, then lets out a shaky sigh. "Sorry," she reiterates. "It was my fault. I thought I could deal with him alone. I thought I could get what we wanted. Damnit," the second time she's cursed in one night.
But he's gone, and at least Rei seems to be accepting of this. She nods her head in agreement at the idea of leaving. "Check on the boy," she says. "We need to make sure he's okay."
The boy is unconscious: check. As is the habit of people turned into youma, he's not actually terribly hurt, which given the number of fireballs thrown his way is both impressive and reassuring. His clothes are somewhat singed. Then again, odds are pretty good they were stolen or something anyway.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus calms herself down pretty quickly for somebody who was so upset before. She kisses her sizzling fingers a few times before speaking.
"Yeah. No big loss. No big risks taken," she says, not sounding as bitter as she feels. "No way to know he'd try to trick us. I'm so bad at this leadership delegation thing sometimes, haha," she comments before stalking off to check up on boys and phones.
"Mercury, tells Mars everything. Write it out on a map, so us folks who can't use a GPS can find our way there if we gotta walk. If something happens to you, I don't want to have to look through your computer folders," she says.
She considers whether she should deal with boys or boxes first after peeking around the relatively open park. She decides discretion is better and drags the boy into the bushes (peeking around to make sure nobody else is looking before doing so).
Mars pulls away from Mercury, smiling at her, head tilted to her side. She softly pats Mercury on the upper arm in a gesture that she hopes is reassuring. "I know you did your best, Merc-chan. What was best for us."
Mars turns towards Venus, considering for a moment if she should go to her... Minako never really seemed like the huggy type, but she still feels like she should at least say something.
Just maybe not right now.
"Um. Sure. We can talk about that later, maybe. I mean, we'd need a desk to write on, and all of that."
Mars scratches the back of her head. She was expecting this to be tense. It was still a lot more tense than she expected.