From the Sailor Moon Expanded (SME) Universe:


                After The Fall, part 7


           A Tale of Crystal Tokyo by Ron Inn

The Sailor Senshi and related characters were created by Naoko
Takeuchi. Calcite, Pyrite, Azurite were created by Mark Latus.
Ferrite was created by Frank Barr.

What has gone on before:

Threatened with being put on an long vacation, Rei grudgingly
took up Serenity's request that she oversee the rehabilitation
of a Nemesian prisoner, Ruby. Eager to return to her post as soon
as possible, Rei posed as Ruby's cellmate. Outside the prison,
the mercenary called "The Jester" has declared his intention
to come after Ruby.

Meanwhile an unknown enemy had started tapping into Crystal
Tokyo's networks, but their plans were threatened by the capture
of one of their agents, Nate. Unwilling to wait for Nate to come
out of a coma, Makoto and Artemis start their own investigation
and Makoto nearly gets caught in a death trap.

Nate then started coming out of a coma forcing Crystal Tokyo's
shadowy enemy put his plans into motion. Infiltration of the
Palace networks allow mercenary teams to temporarily take over
both the men's and women's correctional facilities and release
their prisoners onto the streets. A couple mercenaries attempt to
assassinate Ruby as well and the ensuing scuffle results in Ruby
pursuing the mercenary leader and Rei fighting the results of a
poisoned crossbow quarrel as well as attempting to bring the
prison back under control.

Simultaneously, hackers assault the Palace Intranet and succeed in
locking out all the network's defenders in preparation for
raiding the Data Core. As the last defender of Crystal Tokyo
remaining on the Intranet, Sally resolves to fight them despite
the fact that losing that battle may threaten her very existence.
Pyrite gets wind of Sally's plan and races against time to save
her.

Lastly, Ruby catches up with the mercenary leader, only to render
him incapable of answering her questions. She wanders outside the
prison and is picked up by someone who, strangely enough, is
wearing a jester's hat.

Earlier parts of this fanfic can be found at SME's home page:

http://www.tuxedomask.com/SailorMoonExpanded/

%%%%%

From the passenger's seat, Ruby looked suspiciously at her
supposed benefactor as he expertly swerved their aircar through
traffic. The man had appeared out of nowhere, ordered her into
the car and whisked her away from the gates of the women's
correctional facility. He wore a funny hat with three bells
hanging from tassels. Not only that, he also knew her name. Ruby
was confused and befuddled and it irritated her.

She pointed a finger a his head. "Just who do you think you are
and how do you know my name?"

"Now, now. Is that any way to treat your rescuer?"

Ruby's finger started glowing ominously.

The man tilted back his head and laughed, which caused the bells
in his hat to tinkle.  "You are every bit as spirited as I
expected, Ruby. Very well, I am known as the Jester ..."  He
swung their air car out from behind a slow moving van and
accelerated into oncoming traffic. Ruby turned white as they
narrowly missed several oncoming cars before dodging back into
correct side of the road. " ... and I have been hired to protect
and help you."

"How do I know that you're telling the truth? You could be
another assassin for all I know!"

"This is the message I was supposed to give you from my
employer." The Jester cleared his throat as he cut across three
lanes to narrowly catch an expressway onramp.

"Hurry, hurry, catch the A-Train.
To find the quickest way to get to Harlem.
If you should take the A-Train,
You'll find you get where you want to if you hurry.

Shu-bop doo-bee..."

"OK, OK. That's enough!"

"Good. I keep getting all the bops and sweb-bee-do's mixed up."

"So your employer is?"

"She refers to herself as 'Airhead.' Does that ring any bells?"

Ruby groaned. The song, her strange savior, and his employer's
given name all added up to one person: Pumice. If things held to
form, this Jester person would be a total incompetent.

"Why so glum Ms. Ruby? You've got the Jester on your side.
Haven't I done an excellent job of keeping you safe so far?"

"How could you have been keeping me safe? I've been in prison all
this time!"

"Airhead knew there would be a prison break and possibly an
attempt on your life. So's I issued some public threats against
you."

"You what?"

"Made some threats so that they'd tighten security around you."

"I didn't notice anything." Ruby frowned.  "And a hit squad still
paid me a visit!"

"Ahh, but you're here safe and sound now. Aren't ya?"

Ruby closed her eyes and slumped in her seat. *I'm doomed,* she
told herself. After taking a deep breath she asked aloud, "So
what happens now?"

"In the event you managed to escape from prison, which you have,
I've been instructed give you two options. First off, I can
smuggle you out of Japan, provide you with fake papers and give
you a spot of cash to help you start out. Otherwise, I can drop
you off here in Tokyo and give you the chance to contact your
former boss. You know he's the one who put out the hit on you,
right?"

Ruby sat up straight. "You mean Garnet?" she asked with a strange
lilt to her voice.

"Only if that Garnet fella is your former boss. You know, Airhead
didn't tell me much. Need to know and all that. Contacting that
Garnet fella ain't going be a piece of cake. Airhead says that
there will be unfriendlies and then you would only get speak with
him over a vid link if you get a chance at all. Longshot, she
says. Sounds like a bad deal to me... Hey, are you listening?"

Ruby stared unblinkingly out the window. She no longer knew what
she was feeling. The situation was just too strange -- too
bizarre to be real. It had to be a dream, but she was just not
waking up.

Until this point, she would have done anything to be able to
confront Garnet. She'd demand an explanation. She'd beg to be a
part of the clan again. She'd insult his ancestors to the tenth
generation. She'd ignore him. What Ruby wanted to say to Garnet
changed day-by-day and even on a hourly basis. Up until this
point, however, it all had been moot.

Now, she was given the chance. It had dropped into her lap from
out of the blue and was being offered by a man wearing a
ridiculous hat who had been hired by Pumice -- Pumice of all
people! That girl was most shallow, vain, inept, self-centered
person that Ruby had ever met. Or at least that was what Ruby
_had_ thought about Pumice ...

"Hey Lady, are you still with me here? What's it going to be?
Skip out of town or you going to meet with your boss?"

Ruby shook her head to clear it. "You got a change of clothes for
me?" she asked.

"In the back seat. Why?"

"There's no way I'm ever going let Gar.. my former boss see me in
this." Ruby spread her arms to indicate the drab, beige prison
jump suit that she wore.

"So you're going to see him, I take it. Mind you, I once I drop
you off, my contract is finished. You'll be on your own."

"That's fine. You just get me there in one piece."

"OK, we'll be there in five minutes. You'll have to change in the
car because I ain't stopping."

Ruby released her safety belt and clambered into the back seat.
"Just one thing," she whispered leaning over the driver's
shoulder. "You take just one peek at me while I'm changing and
you'll never need another hat again."

The Jester smiled. "Yes, Ma'am."

%%%%%

Crystal Tokyo's Central Data Processing Core was widely
considered one of the major technological wonders of the world.
Housed deep under the Crystal Palace, it was powered by a
eight-dimensional sea of four million magically-enhanced,
neural-molecular processors. These processors shared sixty-four
quantum photonic storage banks which were in turn linked to eight
holographic archival vaults.

In terms of sheer data processing speed, storage capacity and
reliability, the Core knew no equal. Not only did it capture and
control the pulse of Crystal Tokyo, but through its digital veins
flowed data from the entire world; data which then was analyzed,
collated, dissected and filed away for future use.

There were many rumors as to the exact specifications of the Core
and why Serenity would ever need so much processing power, but
none of the rumors had any basis in fact. For in its forty or
more years of operation, the Core had repulsed all attempts at
unauthorized entry from the outside.

The Core could only be accessed from the Crystal Tokyo Palace
Intranet, a network only an elite few hackers could honestly
claim to have seen, even for an instant. Once on the Palace
intranet, a hacker would have to crack 'Core OS' to gain entry to
the Core. Only two people in the world knew the secrets of that
Operating System, Doctors Mizuno and Pyrite, and they weren't
talking.

So it was considered nearly impossible for the anyone to break
into the Core. Even if someone were able to break into the
intranet, there would never be enough time to crack an unknown
and highly-secure Operating System.

Then again, no one had ever stealthily infiltrated the Palace
grounds sprinkler subnet, bridged over to the palace
groundskeeping net, and forged a link from there to the kitchen's
procurement net -- thereby accessing the Palace Intranet. And no
one had ever had two uninterrupted months with which to carefully
poke and prod the fringes of the Core.

That is, no one until now. After seven and a half weeks of covert
and painstakingly-careful study, Mort knew just enough to
piggy-back a virtual room construct onto a legitimate packet
traveling into the Core and have it open a Portal for him. He
could now do what no one else had believed was possible: hack the
Core.

When Mort and his team of hackers finally initiated their attack
on the Palace Intranet, it was devastatingly effective. All
external firewalls came down, broken from the inside, while
simultaneously all links to the cyber- garrison servers were
severed. Then while one team began the delicate process of
opening  a portal into the core, another created as much havoc as
possible on all the systems connected to the network.

The moment of truth finally came when a ordinary portal appeared
on a non-descript piece of the intranet's cyberspace. His entire
team, two dozen strong, had been assembled and stood silent
silent around him.

An icon resembling a man piloting a flying desk hovered in front
of the portal. It was the avatar of the renowned hacker
Geekmonger, aka GM, and Mort's oldest friend.

"Well Mort," GM said as he studied the displays on his desk. "It
looks stable. Are you ready to walk into the annals of Hacking
History?"

The dark, cloaked figure turned to consider his friend silently
for a moment before turning to the rest of his team. "Let's
rock," he said simply before stepping into the portal. The rest
of his team eagerly followed.

"What the HELL is this?" yelled a young hacker by the name of
ZzDude as they emerged at the portal's destination.

Over the rumble of waves breaking on a white sand beach, a steel
lap guitar sang a jaunty, cheerful tune in counterpoint to the
strumming of a ukulele. The sky was a deep blue and a balmy
breeze set nearby palm trees swaying in time with the music. Off
to the left, a sand volleyball match was well underway played by
scantily-clad co-eds. Lounging on the sand and strolling upon the
beach were attractive men and women in assorted daring swimwear.

In the midst of this scene stood a very prim and proper young
woman dressed in a conservative business blouse and skirt.

"Welcome to Crystal Tokyo Travel Adventures Agency!" The woman
beamed and bowed deeply as she greeted her customers. "We have an
exclusive, special travel package to the Hawaiian Islands. Spend
three days and three nights being pampered on the beautiful
resort island of Lana'i. Take a day to tour the ancient ruins of
Honolulu and then on to the Big Island where you will ..."

The sales pitch was abruptly terminated as Mort's scythe cleaved
the travel agent in two. The fatally damaged icon froze for a
fleeting moment before exploding into an incandescent cloud of
pixels.

The rest of Mort's team were busy taking in the sights.

GRLL gave GoBot a nudge. "Just what do you think you're doing?!?"

GoBot had pulled out an eight-inch telescope and was gazing
intently at one of the more curvaceous volleyball players. "Oh
baby, just look at the textures on that bod! Complete with skin
pores and individual beads of sweat. A trillion voxels at least
I'd guess for the whole model. I gotta snag myself a copy."

GRLL rolled her eyes. "Pathetic. Just pathetic."

Geekmonger's desk pulled abreast of Mort. "What we're seeing is
just a shell. A simple slash-and-burn should do the trick ..."
Black lightning arced from the desk to strike the sand and sky.
Suddenly the scene around them unraveled like sheets of
wallpaper that had suddenly become unglued.

As the scenes of beach and sun twisted and shriveled away, it was
replaced by metal floors and walls. A legion of heavily armored
sysops stared grimly at the assembled hackers through their
weapon sights.

"Another shell," commented GM as Mort slammed down the butt of
his scythe on the floor. With the crash of breaking glass, the
floor shattered and the rest of the scene quickly fragmented and
vanished as well.

What was left behind was a cavernous, dimly-lit room -- what they
had expected to see in the first place. There was one notable
exception, however.

A young woman stood not 50 yards before them. Wearing a
light-blue embroidered kimono, her face was obscured by the broad
brim of a large wicker traveling hat called a _kasa_. From its
shadow, a soft but penetrating voice spoke.

"I am Sally and in the name of the Moon, I cannot allow you to
progress any further. Leave now for you will not ..."

ZzDude had reached the limits of his minuscule patience. A
humungous gun appeared in his hands and let loose an enormous
beam of destructive energy. The evil grin on his face turned to
one of astonishment as Sally, with impossible quickness, brought
her kasa down to intercept his attack and deflect it towards GM.
The beam splashed off GM's shields and scattered those standing
nearby.

In the same motion, Sally sent the kasa spinning towards Zzdude.
Zzdude was only able to exclaim "O SH..." before the deadly
projectile split him in half and continued to careen through the
packed mass of hackers. Confusion reigned as they stumbled over
one another to escape spinning digital death.

GRRL was able to put some distance between herself and the
carnage, but as she sought to engage her opponent, she now saw
twelve identical women in kimonos. As each of them raised their
arms to the darkened sky, streams of colorful butterflies burst
out from their sleeves.

Like living rivers, the butterflies fluttered lazily towards
Mort's beleaguered troops who were rallying and beginning to fire
upon the images of their tormentor. GoBot had just picked himself
off the floor from dodging the last pass of the kasa-of-death
when a yellow and black butterfly alighted on his head.

His icon shimmered before fleetingly melding into an image of a
large butterfly and fading away to nothing.

%%%%

Peitro's knees trembled as he surveyed the operations room. His
job was to watch over the physical bodies of Mort's team while
they were in system. Up until now, it had been going smoothly --
He even had time to gaze out over Crystal Tokyo Park. The office
space they had rented had quite a beautiful view.

Just moments ago, the room was a serene place with neatly
arranged couches upon which highly-trained, computer infiltration
professionals reclined. Seemingly asleep, they were hard at work
within the CT palace network.

Sudden, people started getting kicked out of the system left and
right. It was a chaotic scene, with several people screaming and
others going into convulsions. The fortunate ones passed out
immediately. The less fortunate lingered on, trembling and
retching for some time before mercifully losing consciousness.

One team member, however, wasn't quite incapacitated after
getting disconnected. Pietro remembered that his moniker was
GoBot. GoBot's mouth trembled and started to speak as Pietro bent
down to hear.

"Am I a man who is dreaming that he is a butterfly or a butterfly
who is dreaming that he is a man?"

A chill ran down Pietro's spine as GoBot started flopping around
on his couch while attempting to flap his arms and legs like
wings.

%%%%

Behind her screen of butterflies and with her dopplegangers
adding to the confusion, Sally closed the distance to her
enemies. Drawing out colorful fans with each hand, she wove in
and around her opponents. Her fluid and graceful dance somehow
dodged the most lethal attacks as she deflected others with one
fan and dealt devastating blows with the other.

Mort, for one, did not appreciate the aesthetics of her dance. His
team was in disarray; their frantic attempts to swat their
tormentor were doing much more damage to each other than Sally.
Then there were those damned butterflies and the hat.

The few butterflies that happened to stray close to Mort
shriveled up and died. Mort glared at Sally.

As if sensing the malice directed at its mistress, the kasa homed
in on Mort's back. In a flash, Mort's scythe lashed out and the
kasa fell in two pieces before vanishing. Dropping the scythe,
Mort brought out his whip and bided his time to strike.

Sally raised her hand for a blow to dispatch her fifth opponent
when she felt a whip wrap firmly around her wrist. She barely had
time to gasp before she was picked up and thrown across the room.

"GET HER!" growled Mort even before she landed.

Laser beams, knives, rockets, grenades and nerf balls all
thundered down range. The room itself twisted and convulsed under
the violence of the assault. When the digital smoke cleared, only
a glowing crater remained. The rim of the crater continued to
spark and waver as the room's construct vainly strove to repair
itself.

Mort savored the silence. It was a costly victory, however. Of
the twenty-four hackers he brought into the core, he now had
eleven left. It was even more galling that five of the
casualties were due to friendly fire.

GM's desk pulled up abreast of Mort. "She was up to something,"
commented Mort. "She must have known that she couldn't beat all
of us."

"Way ahead of you," replied GM furiously typing away at his desk.
"She has a stealthy background process running that's trying to
re-activate the core's defenses." A bell that sounded
suspiciously like a toaster's. "No problemo. I've put a stop to
that. We're clean."

Giving a brief nod of approval, Mort stepped up onto a wooden
soapbox that had conveniently appeared out of thin air. "Listen
up, boys and girls. I want to get out of here as quickly as
possible before any other surprises can happen. GM, pick five
people and lead the data extraction team. GRRL, you take the rest
and prepare to burn this place to the ground. That's it. Now, get
..."

Before Mort could complete his speech. A loud feminine voice
boomed through the room.

"Anti-intrusion measures on-line. Activation in five seconds."

"I thought you killed that process!" Mort accused GM.

"I did! Someone else must be in the system!"

"That would be me." Standing next to the crater, a man with
golden eyes and wearing an odd uniform spoke in a soft voice
which somehow could be heard by all. "I may have been too late to
save my daughter, but I can still deal with the likes of you."

"Anti-intrusion measures activated." With that innocuous
statement, row upon row of humanoid forms materialized around
them. They all wore that same strange uniform, sported ugly
ridges on their foreheads and carried all manner of wicked knives
and blades.

"THIS IS A GOOD DAY TO DIE!" they thundered in unison.

"Crap."

%%%%%

*This certainly turned out to be a lousy day,* reflected Rei. She
gritted her teeth as pulled herself out of a pile of rubble and
onto the floor of the dimly-lit cellblock.

"Go ahead," taunted Rei's tormentor. "Continue your useless
struggling. The sweet wine of your pain just makes me stronger."

Despite Rei's weakened condition, she had been a one woman riot
control team ... up until the point she reached the cell block
where the special prisoners had been kept. She had already
knocked out a rogue mage and a woman who could crush bricks with
her bare hands when she got blindsided by this wanna-be
necromancer. On a normal day, Rei would be able to handle her
without breaking a sweat. Unfortunately, today wasn't a normal
day.

A black bolt of magic struck Rei and flung her into a wall. It
hurt ...  a lot.

"With your death, my power will be increased ten, a hundred,
perhaps a thousand-fold. Then ALL will learn to fear the name of
Carol!" Carol proclaimed before lapsing into a bout of maniacal
laughter.

Between the poison still coursing through her veins and the
groundswell of terror from the riot which was fueling Carol's
powers, Rei was having a rough time. Not that Rei didn't still
have to power to unleash a firestorm that would turn the entire
prison facility into a smoldering ruin. The problem was that with
all the punishment she had already suffered, Rei was unsure if
she still had enough control of her powers to take out Carol
without killing all the other unconscious prisoners and guards
scattered throughout the cellblock.

"Flame Sniper!" Rei yelled as she propped herself up on one arm
and pointed at Carol. A gout of fire flew at Carol only to be
barely deflected with a burst of black energy.

"Truly pathetic," panted Carol after patting out a few flames
that had sprung upon her person. "Is that the best you can do?
Prepare to experience the ultimate in pain as I invoke the
ancient hex of -- OUCHIE!" Carol stumbled backwards with a cry as
yellow beam of energy streaked across her face and clipped the
tip of her nose.

"Feeding off the pain and terror of others to gain magical power
is unforgivable!" A slivery voice echoed throughout the cellblock
seemingly coming from everywhere at once. With a lilt that
suggested that someone was having way too much fun, the voice
cried out, "In the name of Venus, I will punish you!"

"Oh yeah?" yelled Carol as she raised her fist. "Well, why don't
you show yourself? Bring it on you ..." Her tirade was cut short
by a yellow magical chain that wrapped tightly around her body.
Carol struggled against it futilely. "You think this can stop me?
Well, you're wrong! I'll be out of this in a jiffy. That's right.
You're history b ..." Carol's tirade stopped again as Sailor
Venus appeared behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Umm
... can we talk about this?"

A quick love tap later, Carol decided to take a little snooze and
Sailor Venus rushed to Rei's side.

"Rei! Are you all right?" queried Venus as she helped Rei to her
feet. "What happened?"

"I'm just having a bad day," Rei replied as she tried to brush
grit and flakes of mortar from her face and hair.

"What's wrong with you? You look pale as a ghost!"

"Aside from having a concrete walkway collapse on top of me, I'm
perfectly fine." Rei took a step and stumbled, but was saved from
embarrassment by Minako's firm grip.

"Something's the matter. No one should have been able to lay a
finger on you," declared Minako.

Rei shook off Minako's hand and glared at her friend. "Nothing is
wrong! Now quit bugging me and let me do my job!"

Minako glared right back and frowned. After a long moment, she
took a step back, struck a pose and said, "I know what's wrong
with you! You're possessed!"

"NANI?"

Tapping a finger to her mouth, Minako reconsidered and corrected
herself. "No, you can't be possessed. If you were possessed,
you'd be much stronger and your eyes would be glowing. Therefore
you must be ... an impostor!"

"Minako, don't be an idiot!"

"While imitating the beautiful yet temperamental Sailor Mars is
understandable ..." Minako paused and posed dramatically.

"TEMPERAMENTAL?"

"... Nevertheless it is just plain impolite to pretend to be
someone you obviously aren't."

"I AM ME."

"For the sake of love and justice and in the name of Venus and
Mars, I will punish you!" Sailor Venus took a deep breath and
pointed her finger at Rei. "VENUS LOVE-ME-CH..."

"All right! All right!" Rei threw her hands up in disgust. "I was
scratched by a poisoned crossbolt. Are you happy now?"

Sailor Venus' gaze and pointed finger were unwavering. "What kind
of poison was it?"

"Blue-ringed Octopus. Now will you leave me a ... ACK!" croaked
Rei, her air supply suddenly cut-off by a huge bear hug.

"Oh, Rei, I'm so sorry! I'll get you off to the infirmary as soon
as possible!"

Prying herself loose from her friend, Rei replied, "I don't have
time to go to the infirmary!"

A stubborn-look descended on Minako's face as she put her hands
on her hips. "And why not?"

"I've got to get this place under control!"

"You've already taken care of most of the troublemakers. They're
either unconscious or cowering in their cells! The rapid response
teams have been teleporting in and have most of the prison under
wraps."

"And I've got find Ruby!"

"Ruby?"

"The Nemesian prisoner that I'm supposed to be looking after."

"Say, isn't she the one that kidnapped my granddaughter? In that
case we'd better get after her before she hurts someone!"

"Look, there was a hit squad after her. I'm worried that she
might be in danger."

"Oh ... I guess that's bad."

"If anything happens to her, Serenity will likely assign me to
this prison permanently!"

Minako raised an eyebrow skeptically, but relented. "Fine, but as
soon as we find this Ruby and get her to safety, you've going
straight to the infirmary, understand?

"What do you mean 'we'?"

"I'm coming along."

"I don't need any help."

"If you don't want back-up in your weakened condition, I have no
choice but to have Arachne 'ported in here to treat you. It's
been quite some time since she's been able to use her antitoxin
on a Senshi. I'm sure she just be thrilled at the chance to cure
you."

Rei grew more pale, if it were possible. "You wouldn't dare." The
wicked gleam in Minako's eyes, however, informed Rei otherwise.
Rei scowled. "Just don't get in my way."

Rei pulled out her communicator and the image of Lt. Mori
immediately popped up on its screen. "I need an energy scan to
pinpoint the location of the Nemesian prisoner Ruby. And make it
snappy!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Lt. Mori replied reflexively before scurrying
off-screen. A few moments later, Lt. Mori reappeared and said
apologetically, "I'm sorry Ma'am, it will take approximately ten
minutes before we can comply with your request."

"Let me talk to Ami," Rei growled.

"Lady Mizuno is ... busy at the moment." Noticing Rei's visible
displeasure, Lt Mori added, "Our computers are just recovering
from a system wide crash, ma'am. We're working to get our sensors
up to full capacity as fast as possible."

"Well, work faster!"

Minako snatched the communicator from Rei's hand. "Please forgive
my colleague. She's had a rough day. I'm sure you'll contact us as
soon as you have some information."

Lt. Mori nodded appreciatively. "Yes, Sailor Venus. We will
contact you shortly. Crisis Center out."

Minako closed the communicator and handed it back to her
glowering friend. "You know," Minako chattered on, oblivious to
the Rei's dark glare, "with all that poison running around in
your bloodstream, you really must take it easy and try not to get
upset. Because getting upset really won't help anything, don't
you think? So how are you feeling now? A little woozy? How many
fingers am I holding up? Maybe you should sit down on this pillar
and rest a bit. Could you show me where that poisoned arrow thing
hit you? Maybe I could suck some of the poison out. Or does that
only work for snake bites? You know, Calcite got bit by a
rattlesnake once..."

Rei sat down and put her head in her hands. It was going to be a
long wait.


%%%%%

Of Mort's original team of twenty-four, only four individuals
were able fight their way back to the exit portal and survive
long enough for GM to force it open. The initial wave of ugly,
blade-wielding humanoids had given way to implacable army of pale
cyborgs who seemed to be able adapt to every attack the panicked
hackers could unleash.

His cloak in tatters, Mort desperately fought to buy enough time
for his team to escape.  A humungous construct in the shape of
cube swooped down from above to latch onto GM with a green energy
beam dragged him away. With a curse, Mort threw himself through
the portal after his two remaining team members.

After a brief surge of disorientation, Mort found himself back
out in the Palace Intranet ... into the midst of a raging
blizzard? Out of the blizzard, a solitary figure appeared in the
distance. Wearing a white fuku, she appeared to be walking
casually, but was standing before the survivors before they could
react to her presence.

"In the name of Mercury and the Queen, give yourselves up."

"Like hell I will!" snarled Mort as he leapt into action. Or
rather, attempted to leap as he belatedly discovered that his
feet were frozen to the ground. Crystalline tendrils of ice raced
up his icon to completely encase him and preserve the look of
unbelief and horror on his face.

Ami sighed and the blizzard faded away leaving three crystal
pillars in its wake.

"Way to go, Mom!"

Ami spun around to look for the source of the voice. "Sally?" Her
breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of her wayward
daughter running toward her, laughing. Ami swept Sally up in an
enormous hug and closed her eyes. "I was so worried about you."

Behind Ami, the portal leading to the core opened once more and a
figure wielding an energy rifle in each hand and wearing
futuristic battle armor stepped through. Yet as he surveyed the
scene before him, his weapons clattered to the ground and the
armor faded away.

"Daddy!" exclaimed Sally as she slipped from Ami's embrace and
launched herself toward Pyrite.

Ami took the time to compose herself as she watched her
daughter's reunion with her father. It was then she noticed
Serenity standing beside her. "Thank you, Serenity," Ami said
softly. "This means a lot to me."

"I love her too," smiled Serenity.

Sally noticed Serenity's presence and broke off catching up with
her father to present herself to her Queen. "Thank you, your
Majesty," Sally said formally while bowing. "I knew that you
would bring help."

Serenity gave her a frown of disapproval. "Just who do you think
you are?" Sally hesitated. "Stop fawning over me and give me a
hug." With a giggle, Sally did just that.

Pyrite drew Ami aside. "How is Serenity logged into the Intranet?
I'm getting some strange readings from her."

Ami glanced over at Serenity and Sally to make sure they were
occupied. "I was desperate to check on Sally, but all access on
to the net was cut off. Serenity somehow used the Ginzuishou to
connect the mercury computer onto the net and I immediately
logged on."

"That doesn't explain what ..."

"She followed me."

"She what?"

Ami made hushing motions with her hands. "Serenity followed me
into cyberspace."

"Without a deck? But that's impos ..."

"Don't say it," warned Ami. "I know it and you know it, but as
long as she doesn't, I think we'll all be fine."

Pyrite just shook his head in disbelief as he watched Serenity in
an animated conversation with Sally. The Ginzuishou, resting upon
Serenity's breast, twinkled as if it were laughing at him. "I'm
going to check on our captives. We need to start tracking down
where their connection originates from." Pyrite stalked off
toward the pillars of ice.

Bemused by Pyrite's reaction, Ami drifted back towards Serenity
and Sally. Then something caught her eye. There was something
subtly wrong with Sally's icon. Before Ami could react, however,
Serenity suddenly paused and closed her eyes as she was hearing
something from a very great distance.

"My people need me," she said dramatically. "I'm sorry, Sally,
but my visit to your quarters will have to wait until another
time." With one last kiss to Sally's forehead, Serenity faded
away.

Ami groaned and summoned up a video window. A harried Azurite
appeared and said without preamble,  "Queen Serenity vanished as
soon as you logged on to the intranet. We can't find her and the
staff here are going nuts."

"She was here until the a moment ago ..."

"With you? In cyberspace?"

"Don't ask. She just left spouting off something about her people
needing her. Run scans of the trouble spots in the city and
you'll find her. Also, keep an eye on Endymion; more than likely,
he'll turn up by her side. Grab a platoon of palace guards and
teleport directly to her location. Stick to her like glue and
threaten to arrest her if she tries to pull a stunt like this
again."

From Azurite's grimace, Ami guessed that she was contemplating
something a bit more drastic. "Right," growled Azurite as she cut
the connection.

Focusing her attention on Sally, Ami activated her visor. "Sally,
stand still for a minute."

Sally fidgeted under her mother's intense examination.

"You've been in a fight," Ami stated.

"Well, yes. See the hackers were breaking into the Core and ..."

"Some of your code has been corrupted."

"Daddy's remote login program safeguards took most of the brunt
of the attack. Now we know I'll be OK if my avatar is destroyed
in a cyber battle. Isn't that great?"

"Sally, I want you go straight back to your room and remain idle
until either Pyrite or myself has a chance to look you over. Then
I want you to go through a complete regeneration cycle."

"But Mom, I know you need help getting the sysop servers back
on-line. Can't I just help out a little bit?" she wheedled.

Ami frowned and opened her mouth, but Pyrite managed to
intervene. "Sweetheart, Ami and I are very proud of what you did
today ..." Ami shot Pyrite a dirty look. "But your mom is just
concerned for your well-being. Now give us a kiss and do as your
mother says."

Sally studied each parent intently before sighing and slumping in
defeat. She gave each a quick kiss before logging out and fading
away.

Ami turned her ire upon Pyrite. "Just what do you think you're
doing by encouraging her to fight hackers?"

"Ami, she was just doing her best to defend Crystal Tokyo and
Serenity. She's not a little girl any more, and she's certainly
much older than you were when you started fighting for 'Love and
Justice'."

Avoiding his gaze, Ami changed the topic. "Come on. Let's get
those servers on-line."

%%%%%

Officer Chakagi Yoshioka was dying and she was aware of every
second of the process. The small quarrel that stuck out of her
chest no longer pained her. In fact, she could no longer feel
anything at all. She could, however, hear the slowing throb of
her own pulse and count each labored and increasingly sporadic
breath.

Her vision grew dimmed and darkened. Irrationally Chakagi wished
she could at least close her eyes before the end. Finally, her
breathing stopped. * This is how it ends, * she thought as her
conscious fled into the black void ...

Light.

Intense blinding light filled her being and in the next moment
she was gasping for air. And MOVING. Someone was helping her sit
up. For the moment, Chakagi just reveled in luxury of lung-fulls of
sweet air. And with the air her sight slowly cleared and she
could make out her benefactor. She stiffened in surprise.

"Your Majesty?"

"Rest now. Everything is going to be all right." With that
reassurance, Queen Serenity sent Chakagi into a deep healing
sleep with a small nudge from her magic.

Gently laying her patient back on the floor, Serenity walked over
to a technician slumped over his console with four quarrels in
his back. He was already gone, but Serenity reached down to close
his sightless eyes. Wiping away a tear she whispered, "So, it
finally begins."

Then she moved on to the next of the fallen.

%%%%%

Pietro pulled out his hair as he tried to decide what to do.
Nearly all of Mort's team had been violently ejected from the
system. A team member near him had somehow found the strength to
roll-over and empty the contents of his stomach on the floor,
narrowly missing Peitro's shoes. The reek of vomit and the groans
of the vanquished was unsettling, but worse by far were the poor
souls that had started flapping their arms and legs while
emitting crazed giggling.

There had been contingency plans for casualties. They were
supposed to load everyone into vans and bug out once everyone was
out. That had assumed there would be enough survivors to carry
the rest out, or at least drive the vans. Pietro took a step
backward toward the door.

*The gig is up,* Pietro couldn't help thinking. *They know that
you're here and they'll be coming after YOU next.* With a
strangled cry, Pietro broke and ran out of the room, down the
stairs and through the lobby of the building. The outer glass
door seemed to beckon him with the light of freedom.

Out on the sidewalk, a woman was arguing with her cat.

"Look, Arachne, we don't have time for this silliness. Ami said
the infiltration team must be somewhere nearby; We're not going
to get anything done if you keep on sulking."

"I am not sulking. I am just RRRWOOUUW!" exclaimed the cat as
Pietro burst out of the building entrance next to them and
tripped over her.

Makoto hurriedly helped the man to his feet and kept an eye on
Arachne who, while only having her pride injured, had a wicked
gleam in her eyes that usually meant someone was about to feel
her claws.

"Hey, why don't you watch where you are going!" yelled Pietro as
he got to his feet. He spun to face Makoto and froze. The color
drained from his face and with a wail he turned to flee down the
street. He got three steps before Sailor Jupiter had him by the
collar and lifted him in the air.

Arachne smoothed her ruffled fur as she ignored the blubbering
man in Makoto's grip. "I think you find that team in this
building. You can thank me later."

%%%%%

The hum of charging electronic capacitors filled the top floor of
a dumpy, five-story brick building near Crystal Tokyo's
waterfront. Weak yellow light from cheap, carelessly-placed
lighting panels illumined a rat's nest of cables, antennas and
equipment strewn throughout the cavernous room. Five technicians
rummaged about, speaking to one another in whispers. Their
leader, Scott, was being chewed out over a flickering vid-phone.

"What in the name of the Towers is taking you so long?" demanded
Scott's employer, whose shadowy outline over the phone gave no
clue as to his actual identity.

"The capacitors need time to charge. We're already drawing as
much current as we can from the power grid without attracting any
attention."

"If this mission fails because of you ..."

"Look, you're asking for transmission thirty minutes ahead of
schedule. We're doing pretty freakin' darn well to give you in
five." Scott pointed to a large count-down timer mounted on a
nearby wall. It currently displayed 'T-00:04:38'. "Now if you
excuse me, I have some work to do!" Scott stalked out of range of
the vidphone's pick-up.

While idly monitoring data from a display, Scott cursed aloud.
It was supposed to be simple.  They were to receive and store
data transmitted from different parts of the city. Then they
would blast the data through CT's jamming shield in one enormous,
spread-spectrum burst transmission. Scott supposed that there had
to be something in orbit to receive it, but that didn't concern
him.

What concerned him now is that they only had received a tenth of
the data that they had been prepped to receive. Some data sources
never transmitted while those that did had, in each case, been
terminated prematurely. CT's security was acting more swiftly
than he thought possible. It boded ill for their own fates. As
soon as their transmitter lit up, the place would be crawling
with security. It was time to cut and run.

He was about to give the order to bug out when the cargo elevator
arrived at his floor. Its doors slid open and out strolled a
bombshell of a woman. She wore a sleeveless white blouse, a
hot-pink leather mini-skirt and red stiletto heels. With
contemptuous ease, she tossed down the unconscious body of
Scott's look-out man in front of her.

"Get out. All of you. And take this filth along with you."

One fool-hardy tech reached for a heavy wrench and was rewarded
screeching, golden blast that lifted him off his feet into a
wall.

The women pointed her still glowing fist at the nearest lackey
and asked, "Any more takers?" In seconds, she was the only one on
the floor and started walking purposefully to the still active
vidphone.

Half of the way there, she tripped on a cable and barely avoided
landing on her face.

"Pumice, someday I'm going to get back at you for making me wear
these @%@$% heels," she muttered under her breath.

When she finally presented herself before the vidphone, the
shadowy figure on the other end of the connection reacted in
disbelief, "Ruby?!? What are you doing there?"

"Surprised to see me, Garnet?"

"What?" The shadowy figure sputtered, "How did know?"

"I've known you for years. A little voice distortion can't fool
me," Ruby replied contemptuously.

"Ah, I see you have proved resourceful enough to break out of
prison."

"Your little death squad paid me a visit. One can't get good help
these days."

"A death squad? I would never do anything like that to you."

"Oh really? But you don't have any qualms about a little thing
like DISOWNING ME?!?"

"Now calm down, Ruby. You know that was just politics. Those CT
bastards forced our hand. We never wanted to disown you. Listen,
now that you're out, I can make it up to you."

As Garnet and Ruby continued their conversation, the stairwell
door eased open silently. Crowbar in hand, Scott stalked out. He
wasn't about to let this operation go totally sour. He had a
reputation to maintain and, besides, he needed the cash. He
didn't care who the lady was, but he was going to teach her not
to mess with him.

Scott didn't get two paces before two pairs of hands reached out
and jerked him back into the stairwell. There were a muted thump
followed by silence. A pair of faces peeked out of the door.

"On three, we make our entrance. I claim dibs on the speech,"
Minako whispered.

"Hold on. I want to hear what's going on." Noting Minako's
impatient expression, Rei added, "Please?"

"All right," Minako agreed grudgingly, "but I still get dibs on
the speech."

"... and I even have kept your old position open," crooned Garnet
smoothly. "It will be like old times; As if you never had left."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" accused Ruby. "All you're trying to do
stall me until your precious transmitter can go off." Ruby
pointed to the count-down timer that now displayed 'T-00:00:52'.

"I can assure you that is not the case," replied Garnet angrily.
"I am offering to take you back and restore your position. Don't
be a fool and throw it all away!"

Ruby locked her gaze on the vidphone as if, by sheer will-power
alone, she could discern the truth of Garnet's words. The seconds
ticked by:

T-00:00:40

T-00:00:35

T-00:00:30

Unexpected, Ruby buried her face in her hands and her shoulders
shook. What escaped from her mouth was a cross between sobbing
and hysterical giggling.

T-00:00:25

Wiping her eyes urgently, Ruby took a deep breath and said, "Even
if I could trust you -- and I can't -- I don't want to go back. I
can't go back to the way things were. The things I've seen; I'm
different." Ruby burst out laughing as if at a private joke. "By
the Towers, I believe I trust these CT weaklings now more than my
own Clan."

Garnet remained silent.

T-00:00:15

Ruby straightened up and said soberly, "I'm afraid I can't allow
your transmission to take place." As she spoke, a golden glow
built up around her hands.

"What?" Garnet sputtered. "I can't believe you'd betray your own
Clan, you traitorous dog!"

T-00:00:10

"Not my Clan -- perhaps just you. But anyway this war,
everything, it's not right."

"You fool! The energy capacitors are rigged to blow if anyone
tampers with the transmitter. If you blast it, you'll be blown to
hell!"

Ruby didn't respond but faced the large conical transmitter
antenna squatting the corner of the room.  Raising both hands
over her head, she gathered golden-hued, sonic energy between
them.

T-00:00:04

Because of centuries of working together, all Minako needed was
to place a gentle restraining hand on Rei's arm and give her a
sharp glance to communicate her intentions.

T-00:00:03

"Now let's be reasonable ..." yelled Garnet frantically.

In a blur, Sailor Mars had retrieved Scott. Sailor Venus took
aim.

T-00:00:02

Rei unleashed a fiery blast that punched through the building's
outer wall. A golden chain arced between Venus and Ruby.

As Rei leapt out through the hole she had created, Venus'
Love-Me-Chain wrapped firmly around Ruby's waist. Ruby,
unheeding, completed her attack, throwing a glowing streak of
sonic energy forward.

T-00:00:01

As Ruby threw everything she had at the transmitter,
   she felt
       something grab her from behind
           then a deafening bang
               blinding whiteness ...
   
%%%%%

The next two days it rained; It seemed like the heavens
themselves were in mourning. People of Crystal Tokyo looked at
one another with knowing glances: Their queen was grieved by the
lives lost during the Great Prison Break.

But on the third day, the sun broke through, the clouds dissipated
and life returned to normal in the world's most beloved city.

%%%%%

<To be concluded in After The Fall, epilogue>