After The Fall, part 1

From the Sailor Moon Expanded (SME) Universe:

After The Fall
--------------

A Tale of Crystal Tokyo by Ron Inn

The Sailor Senshi and related characters were created by Naoko
Takeuchi. Calcite and Titanite were created by Mark Latus.
Topass was created by Andy Combs.

To learn about Ruby and the events preceding this fanfic,
read "A Decent Dive" by Ron Inn which can be found at
SME's home page http://members.xoom.com/Warthog/index.html

The date is March 11, 2982 before the Black Moon War.

%%%%

A solitary woman sat in a white ten foot by twelve foot room. Her
vacant eyes did not see the subtle and soothing murals that
graced the walls of her cell. Nor did her nose smell the faint
hint of potpourri in the air. Embedded in one wall was an
educational terminal. Its darkened screen was obscured by a thin
layer of dust that gave it an almost forlorn, abandoned
expression.

Though this woman was physically in this room, the cell she
inhabited was actually much smaller. In her mind's eye, a single
scene from several weeks earlier was repeating over and over ...

%%%%

As Ruby reckoned it, it had been eleven days and nine hours that
she had been held in detention since the her botched operation
and subsequent capture by Crystal Tokyo forces. When uniformed
guards came to escort her out of her cell, she felt relieved that
her demands to meet with Nemesian Embassy personnel was finally
being met.

As she and her escort slowly made their way through various
security checkpoints and doors, Ruby couldn't shake the terrible
sense of foreboding that haunted her. Sure, her operation was
supposed to be deniable, but who would have thought it would have
been compromised enough to lead to her own capture?

No, she reassured herself, she was just too promising and
valuable to discarded. Granted, she'd pay for this fiasco, but it
was nothing that she couldn't overcome in time. Unfortunately, no
amount of reasoning was making the hollow feeling in her stomach
go away.

Ruby fretfully twisted one of the thick silver bracelets that
accented her forearms. They were actually were quite comfortable
and looked good on her, but that did not help the fact that were
they essentially manacles that suppressed her inborn powers.
Powers that let her manipulate sound and made her fairly
dangerous. She'd soon be rid of the bracelets, she told herself.

After what seemed an eternity, Ruby was finally ushered into a
unremarkable room. That is, unremarkable except for a large
window that took up an entire wall. Through that window, Ruby saw
a beautiful view of the park that surrounded CT's Center for
Security building. In the distance, the spires of the palace
glittered through the trees.

There was a single battered wood table in the room. A guard
gestured to well used chair. After feigning an appropriate amount
of disinterest and boredom, Ruby slowly took her seat.

In a matter of moments, the door across the room opened
admitting a uniformed, albeit slightly disheveled man. Laying his
briefcase on the table, he introduced himself saying, "Ruby of
the Black Moon Family, I am Captain Fujimoto of Internal Security
and ..."

"Where are my Nemesian representatives?" Ruby bluntly
interrupted.

"I beg your pardon?"

Ruby rose from her seat and leaned over the table. "I've demanded
to meet with staff from the Nemesian Embassy over a week ago. By
your own laws, you were _required_ to notify the embassy and give
them access within 48 hours." Ruby glared at the captain as if he
were a bug. "I want to know why they aren't here and I want to
know now!"

"They are not here because they have refused your request,"
Fujimoto replied in an icy tone.

"Well, you tell your superiors that if they think they can get
away with this, they are in for a big surprise! Do you think the
Nemesian Clans will just acquiesce to such unjust treatment of one
of their citizens? Do you think you can walk all over us like
that? Well, do you? I promise that there will be a reckoning for
the indignity that has .. been ... " Ruby's diatribe trailed off
as she noticed Captain Fujimoto pulling out a letter from his
briefcase written on Nemesian Embassy stationary.

Ruby sank slowly back into her seat as the import of Fujimoto had
said earlier hit home. *What does he mean by, '_they_ have
refused your request?' The embassy refused _me_? He can't have
meant that, can he?*

Captain Fujimoto cleared his throat and started reading.

"The Nemesian Clans deeply deplore the recent actions of one Ruby
of the Black Moon Family. We are further distressed by her abuse
of her authority within the Black Moon Family to perpetrate
crimes against the good citizens of Crystal Tokyo. In no way did
Black Moon Family or any other the Clan direct her to take such
actions nor have any foreknowledge of those actions.

"Our investigation has found that Ruby deliberately mislead her
subordinates into believing that her criminal operation was
sanctioned by her Clan. As such, we request that Boxite and
Pumice of the Black Moon Family be remanded into our custody for
disciplinary measures. Though not completely culpable, it
reprehensible that they did recognize and stop the madness of the
acts they were committing against a valued friend of the Nemesian
people.

"As for Ruby, because of the dishonor she has brought upon her
clan and all Nemesians, the Black Moon Family hereby irrevocably
Disowns Ruby. Let her name be struck from all Clan rolls and her
memory be forever erased from the Hall of Warriors.

"As we have nothing to do with the clanless, do with her as you
please."

"Signed, His Eminence Tempest, Nemesian Ambassador to Crystal
Tokyo"

%%%%

The rest of that meeting was just a blur. Ruby could not even
remember being taken back to her cell. One word reverberated
through her mind, CLANLESS.

There must be some mistake, she tried to telling herself, This
can't be happening to *me*, of all people! But after grabbing the
document and examining the Clan's seal and Ambassador's
signature, she _knew_ it was true.

For a day she managed to denied it and then for next several days
she ranted and loudly cursed at Topass, Magnesite, the Senshi,
Crystal Tokyo, Pumice, Boxite, her clan leaders Garnet and
Demand, her guards and anyone else she could think of.

But now all the fury and anger was gone, leaving just emptiness
and one word.

Clanless.

There was no lower state on Nemesis than being without a clan or,
worse, having been cast out of one's own clan. The Clanless had
no position, no rights, and no future. They lived on the edge of
society, scavenging and scrounging to stay alive, dismissed and
despised by all.

So Ruby just sat there, staring unseeing at a wall, while
internally being consumed by the hopelessness and despair of that
moment. A moment she could never change, no matter how many times
she relived it.

Outside that cell, Ruby's case worker peered through the glass
window in the door and took notes. A frown crossed her normally
cheerful visage.

It had been a little over two weeks since Ruby was admitted to
the CT's Civil Correction Facility and she had been completely
unresponsive that entire time. She refused counseling sessions,
exercize sessions, and participation in any of the prison's
rehabilitation programs. She originally did have a cell mate, but
that did not last long. When her cell mate had casually remarked
that Ruby was a failure, Ruby had flown into a rage and attempted
to strangle her tormentor. Since then Ruby was the sole occupant
of her cell.

The case worker shook her head and was at a loss with how to
proceed. There were even no friends nor family to help draw Ruby
out of her shell ... except for Topass. But as failing to kidnap
Topass was the primary reason for Ruby's incarceration, it was
probable that Topass was the _last_ person Ruby would want to
see.

The case worker wrote a note to bring this case up with her
supervisor. In her opinion, it was just a matter of time before
Ruby's mind completely broke under the strain.

%%%%

It had been a long, uncomfortable transonic airbus ride from
England for Harry and Gracie, but at long last the end of their
trip was in sight. Brushing her graying hair, Gracie peered out
the her window and strained her aging eyes in hopes of glimpsing
glistening spires of Crystal Tokyo in the distance.

She gently elbowed her husband. "Harry, Harry," she prodded,
"it's time to wake up!"

Harry woke with a snort and a start. He grumbled as he wiped the
sleep from his rheumy eyes and squinted out the window. "Not so
loud!" he complained, "You know my hearing has been fine since
that operation." He yawned loudly. "So dear, are we there yet?"

"Don't be silly! We're just arriving at the airbus port."

"Oh, is that all?" Harry sighed. "Well, wake me up after
customs."

"Don't you remember anything I told you, Harry? We need to get
off the bus, go through customs on foot and then we can board the
monorail for downtown Systole Tokyo."

"I knew that," Harry replied stubbornly. He sighed again before
adding, "What a bother."

It wasn't long before their airbus set itself down at the CT's
international bus station and they were efficiently herded off
into the arrivals building.

"My, what a beautiful building this is!" Gracie exclaimed. "If
their customs building is so pretty and clean, just think of how
the rest of the city will be!"

"I just wish they'd get on with it. Look at how long this line
is!"

"Now, now, no need to be cranky Harry. This queue is moving along
quite nicely. I'm sure it'll only be a couple minutes before
we're through it."

It was in fact, exactly 6 minutes and 42 seconds before Harry and
Gracie got to the head of their line. Harry was just about to
point this out when a commotion in an adjoining line distracted
him.

In front of each line, there was an open space of twenty feet to
a customs desk. Half way to the desks, there were white ornate
arches, one for each line. Upon being called, a person or couple
would walk across the space, through a arch, and to the customs
desk to complete the paperwork of entry. During his impatient
wait, Harry observed what many people would have missed: there
was a faint greenish glow in the floor that followed people as
they walked across it.

In the adjacent line, something unusual was taking place. An arch
had started to glow red and chime. The person who had just walked
through it, a scruffy looking young man wearing a beat-up leather
jacket, glanced nervously from side to side.

Two uniformed customs officers discretely stepped forward and
motioned the man to come with them.

For a moment, it looked like the young man was going to run. He
hesitated and then reached into his leather jacket for a gun. He
yelled with a wild look in his eyes, "You'll never take me alive,
coppers!"

The green glow under his feet suddenly flared into the brightest
of white, freezing his movement and highlighting his outline. In
a second, the light was gone and he slumped to the floor
unconscious.

"Oh dear," murmured Gracie who was thoroughly entranced by the
spectacle.

A girl with a similar jacket emblazoned with the name "Lily"
gasped and then started pushing her way back out of the line. One
of officers noticed the movement out of the corner of his eye and
pointed, "You there, freeze!"

The youth broke into a frenzied scramble through the crowd as the
officer drew a wand from his holster. Before the officer could
fire, the fleeing girl had rounded a corner and was out of sight.

Unconcerned, the officer squeezed the wand and a marbleized
sphere of energy shutout from its tip. Leaving a trail of golden
sparkles, it arced high over the heads of a crowd, before
shooting around the corner. There was a muffled cry followed by a
soft thump.

"Well, Jiro," the other office remarked, "you still got the
touch."

"It's all in the wrist," Jiro said with a smile. "Besides we've
been getting a lot of practice lately." He gestured to the first
troublemaker at his feet, "You watch this one and I'll go check
on the runner."

"Right!" replied the officer and in minutes both of the
unconscious youths were quickly carried away on stretchers by
teams of men in white jackets.

"Those poor kids! Do you think they'll be all right?" worried
Gracie.

"Just plain foolish," grumped Harry. "What is the kids of today
thinking of? Trying to smuggle guns into Crystal Tokyo of all
places? They got what they deserved."

And with that, the two trundled across the floor, through an arch
and toward the waiting customs desk.

%%%%

It was past midnight in the Palace. The day's usual busy flurry
of activity had slowed to a crawl. Only the custodial crew and
Palace Security's night shift were going about their duties.
There was, however, one notable exception tonight.

In a small chamber adjacent to her personal rooms, Queen Serenity
sat in a lightly padded rocking chair. Her features softly lit by
the glow of the Silver Imperium Crystal resting on her breast,
she could have be mistaken for sleeping. In reality, she was hard
at work.

Serenity's mind ranged throughout her beloved city, the thoughts
and dreams of her people swirling around her as she moved among
them. It was tiring task, so she moved quickly as she noted a
newly homeless family in Shinagawa park, the stirrings of a youth
gang forming in a Shinjuku neighborhood and new cracks in the
foundation of an old apartment building. Specific names and exact
places were difficult to determine in the realm that Serenity
traveled; she just made quick mental notes of enough clues for
her efficient staff to follow-up on.

As she traveled, she caught a glimpse of an image of a figure in
a trenchcoat and fedora, but when she focused on it, the image
vanished. Magnesite? Ferrite? They both were reportedly
elsewhere. Serenity mentally shrugged and moved on. Likely it was
just a random dream.

Then, at the edge of her senses, she felt a wisp of despair and
she followed it. The trail led her to the Ebisu Women's
Correctional Facility.

Normally, there was a good deal of anger and bitterness flowing
from the confines of this facility ... as well as a good deal of
renewed hope and peace as well, noted Serenity with some
satisfaction. Tonight was different though -- there was a single
towering pillar of misery that drew Serenity like a beacon.

Back in the palace, a slight frown appeared on Serenity's face
accompanied by a flash of the crystal. Instantly Serenity herself
appeared in the real world next to what should be the source of
that misery. A small smile quirked Serenity's lips. If Rei only
knew ...

Serenity was in a small cell. No cameras saw her. No sensors
registered her presence. She was there nonetheless. The only
occupant of the cell was in a troubled sleep. With a look of
concern, Serenity gently brushed her fingertips across the
sleeper's brow.

%%%%

Rei almost caught herself fidgeting during the meeting. Granted,
Luna had been droning on continuously for the past thirty-five
minutes, but that was no excuse for such a breach of self-
control, especially for thousand-year-old immortal. Besides Rei
had an uneasy sense that Queen Serenity had been eyeing her. For
what reason, Rei couldn't guess.

Calcite was also present as usual for this briefing. He had been
a study in unflinching, cool concentration throughout Luna's
presentation; a fact which, for some reason, irritated Rei.

Rei glanced over at Ami who was seated next to her. What was she
doing here? Rei found it hard to believe that with her busy
schedule, Ami would show up on a whim. Unconscious of Rei's
scrutiny, Ami busily continued taking notes on her computer.

"... and that concludes this month's summary of African
Intelligence data." Luna paused a moment to regain her breath.
Sitting upright on the table, the diminutive mooncat waved a paw
at her aide who shut down the A/V presentation and restored
lights to the conference room.

"Which brings me to the final point on today's agenda," Luna
continued briskly.

"As you all know, lately Rei's people have been picking up quite
a number of would-be hit men entering Crystal Tokyo. Following up
on leads obtained from these detainees, we have been able to
learn the following:

"There are apparently no less than five outstanding contracts on
Topass' head with an average pay out of a billion yen. Each
contract has been publicized in a different part of the world."

Luna paused to straighten out her whiskers.

"Exactly who is offering these contracts is somewhat of a
mystery. In each case, there is a veritable morass of shell
companies, virtual escrow accounts and underworld links. It will
take awhile to sort out, but I doubt we will be left anything
resembling proof on the originator of the contracts -- especially
if no one collects the bounty, which we all fervently hope will
be the case.

"Of course, we have a pretty good guess of who is responsible. We
are doing our best to turn up evidence of Nemesian involvement,
but they are covering their tracks well.

"We are working with the Foreign Service to have local
authorities shut down the fronts for these contracts where we
can. In other cases, some helpful unnamed parties," Luna cleared
her throat as she glanced at Ami meaningfully, "are doing their
best to be persuasive."

"This seems an awfully clumsy way to have someone killed,"
observed Calcite.

"I agree," replied Luna with a twitch of her tail. "They are only
attracting the amateurs and nut cases with this stunt. Given the
publicity and uncertain payment terms, the professionals are
likely to stay away. Best guess is that this is mostly an
intimidation tactic; it's just a bonus if they get lucky."

"Somehow that doesn't seem right. They're expending a lot of
effort just to scare one person?" Calcite mused on it for awhile,
"It doesn't add up."

"Perhaps they are using it to probe our security," Ami
suggested.

"Quite possibly, although another scenario ..."

Serenity held up her hand. "Forgive me for interrupting, but this
meeting is running a bit over and there are a few things I'd like
to have nailed down before we're dismissed."

After all present nodded, Serenity continued, "Luna, how long
before you believe you shut down these contracts on Topass'
life?"

"Your Highness, we have already shut down two and we should be
able to close down the rest of those we know about within a
couple weeks. After that, it will be a matter of time until the
word gets around that no one will be paying on these contracts."

"Rei, how is Internal Security dealing with the situation in
Crystal Tokyo?"

Rei cleared her throat and straightened her posture. "The cover
story is that IS is conducting exercises to evaluate our level
three security protocols. This includes stringent customs checks,
tripled border patrols, quick-response teams on standby,
increased scans and tightened palace security. Off the record, my
people know something's up with the sudden increase in the number
of thugs that we've been picking up. Fortunately, no one has
leaked anything to the press yet.

"Given what we've seen so far, I'd fairly sure we'll be able to
provide sufficient security for three weeks before people start
getting really suspicious. Also, any more than that, we'll also
need to call in our reserves or do some recruiting from other
departments.

Rei gave a nod to Calcite. "Given Calcite's duties and personal
interest in the matter, I've asked him to take charge of Topass'
personal security detail."

"If your Highness pleases," added Calcite, "I'll have a report on
those security measures for your review by tomorrow morning."

"There's no need for that. I have full confidence in your
expertise on the matter." Serenity considered a moment before
adding with a smile, "... Although I am a bit curious how you're
going to keep Topass from slipping his leash."

"Not a problem, I'm planning to recruit Ti in helping keep the
boy under control," responded Calcite.

"The poor guy doesn't have a chance," Ami commented with a
deadpan expression before cracking a small smile.

The meeting broke up shortly after that. Before Rei could hurry
off, Serenity pulled her aside.

"Rei, I was wondering if you would like to have some tea with me
in my tea room. I know it's early but we haven't sat and talked
for ages."

"Well, uh," Rei stalled. As she looked into Serenity's pleasantly
expectant face, alarm bells starting ringing in her head. "Of
course it would be my pleasure. Let me just check-in with my
staff and I'll be there in a minute." Rei plastered a smile on
her face that she hoped wasn't too transparent.

"Great!" Serenity was almost beaming. "I'll see you in a little
while."

'What am I in for now?' Rei asked herself as she made her way to
her office. No matter how regal and dignified Serenity has
become, traces of the younger Usagi still shined through, she
mused. However infuriating it might be at times, I guess I still
love her all the more for it, Rei chuckled to herself.

It wasn't long before Rei had stopped off at her office, canceled
or postponed all her appointments for the rest of the afternoon,
and made her way to Serenity's tea room. She paused for a minute
in front of its simple unadorned doors.

Anyone in the palace could tell you that the tea room was a place
that Serenity would invite friends and guests to sit and chat in
an informal setting. Beyond that, there was nothing special about
the room. It even had the standard security feed that monitored
many of the public rooms in the palace.

Only a handful of people knew, however, that it one of the most
secure rooms in the palace save the inner council chambers.
Pyrite had spent years installing and perfecting the bug
detection equipment built into the tea room's walls. Not only did
Pyrite's masterpiece of engineering detect bugs, but when
possible it would feed them audio and even video of ordinary,
albeit perfectly fictional, conversations.

This was all made possible by an Artificial Intelligence (AI)
program named Sally. One of the few sentient AIs in existence,
Sally had the creativity to create audio and video of perfectly
plausible, prosaic and mind-numbingly dull conversations in the
tea room. Anyone listening through the security feed or a bug
would eventually conclude that there was absolutely nothing of
interest going on. Throughout the past hundred years of
operation, Sally had detected and intercepted twenty-seven bugs.
None had stayed active for more than three months before being
abandoned, but most long enough for IS to trace and start
observation of the would-be eves droppers.

Rei paused a moment to straighten her dress and hair before
entering. The interior of the tea room was elegantly simple. The
floor was covered by tatami mats and there were cushions for
guests to kneel or sit on. There were several low, lacquered
tables; some which held trays of delicious snacks. In a corner of
the room, a small fire was burning to heat water for tea. The
happy burbling and splashing of the little fountain and its
attendant brook gave the room a soothing atmosphere. Along the
walls there were lovely silk screen paintings.

"Come on in," Serenity urged her friend as Rei toed off her shoes
and closed the doors. "You're just in time. The water's almost
boiling and I don't want any of our pastries getting stale before
we have a chance to eat them!"

They chatted companionably as Serenity made the tea. Soon, they
both settled down to soak in the fragrance and taste of truly
excellent green tea and delicious pastries. It wasn't until the
last chocolate-covered pineapple tart was consumed that Serenity
got down to business.

"Sally," Serenity called out, "are we secure?"

"Your tea room is most certainly secure, your Highness," murmured
a sweet, disembodied voice.

"Thank you, Sally."

"A pleasure to serve you, Your Highness."

"Just call me Serenity," added the Queen absently.

"Serenity, Your Highness," Sally replied with a hint of a giggle.

Serenity sighed and took a sip from her teacup.

"Rei," Serenity said as she set down her teacup, "I've received a
report that one of the suspects you interrogated last week was
admitted to the hospital with a minor concussion. The report
states that he slipped and hit his head on the wall while in the
interrogation room." Serenity paused as Rei carefully kept her
expression neutral. "I thought that you could perhaps give me a
more ... detailed description of the incident."

Rei carefully put down her teacup and stared at it before
answering, "He slipped out of my hands, bounced off the wall and
landed on the floor head first."

"REI!"

"It was an accident! Really! I just got so upset about his
ranting on about all these lies about you ..."

Serenity frowned, "Such as?"

"That you're an insectoid, space alien in disguise that's been
shipping people back to your home hive in Alpha Centauri as
exotic edibles and replacing them with clones that are obedient,
smile a lot and pay taxes."

"So that's when you bounced him off the wall?"

"Um," Rei prevaricated, "not exactly."

Serenity raised an eyebrow.

"He then went on to say that Crystal Tokyo's security was a joke
that couldn't find its ... rear end with two hands. Then he added
that IS's head is an incompetent floozy who still dresses like a
schoolgirl."

"I imagine he found out rather quickly who you were," Serenity
commented archly.

Rei grimaced and studied her teacup. "I picked him up by his
lapels and proceeded to, um, correct his misconceptions.
Unfortunately, his clothes weren't as durable as I thought --
they tore."

"So how did he end up bouncing off the wall?"

Rei winced and said, "I guess I was shaking him a bit hard."

Rei blushed as Serenity leveled a stern gaze at her. The fountain
in the corner tinkled away merrily oblivious to the sudden
uncomfortable silence. Serenity pulled a file out from under a
cushion.

After opening the file and leafing through its contents, she
spoke, "According to Human Resources, you have accrued 11.6
years of vacation and have 8 years of sabbaticals that you
haven't been taken. Rei, you know it's our policy that one can
only accrue up to a year of vacation before being forced to take
time off. Also, you should have been taking at least _one_
sabbatical every fifty years."

"Serenity ..."

"Now Rei, I'm serious." Serenity paused to catch Rei's eyes in a
steely gaze.

"As of today you're officially on vacation."

"WHAT!!!!"