Inferno
Somewhere in the Eastern Inferno
The large shimmering space plane shone like a beacon as it glided over mountains, foothills and contorted forests. The aircraft easily negotiated the steep escarpments, rivers and toxic swamps. The sophisticated onboard computers guiding the massive ship as it skimmed in for a landing. After clearing a series of dangerous topographical obstacles, the navigation systems found an almost natural landing strip, the inertial dampeners cushioning the impact.
Tokyo
"China is in a mess. The Presidential Compound is in lock-down. Somebody by the name of Yatan is demanding the stand-down of the Chinese national forces or a Zero-Point fusion device will be detonated. We have an entire city, no superpower held to ransom!" he lifted his gaze and stared at his wife who was not paying attention to his words.
She gasped as tears flooded her eyes. Sokhumi rushed out from behind the desk, and was at Aiko's side in seconds, putting his arms around her. "What is it, my love?"
"Oh by the Kamis, the space plane's gone down in The Eastern Inferno!" Aiko cried in anguish, "We've got to get them out, and fast. There are all sorts of hideous creatures there…"
"I know Aiko, my love… I'll check with the taskforce!" Sokhumi punched in the com link code and the holo-image of the white-haired General Diamond appeared before them, "What the hell is going on, Diamond? Have you found them yet?" Sokhumi demanded.
"We have the coordinates of where the ship went down, and my team are preparing to land on a desert plateau nearby as it's the safest location compared to the forests, valleys, rivers that are teeming with mutants! Don't worry , your majesties, our people are the best at what they do and we'll get them out as soon as possible…"
"All right, keep us informed!" Sokhumi told the general who bowed and the holo-image vanished. "What a disaster!" he said, shaking his head.
Somewhere in what used to be Central India
The smoke was building up within the chamber, the pale blue gas floating in a blanket a foot thick at the ceiling. Artemis picked himself off the floor and looked around.
Luna was still out of it; sweeping his hand across her brow he brushed the hair out of her eyes and spoke to her as her beautiful ruby orbs flickered open, "Come on Luna, I'll help you up, I need to get the others out of here."
"Wow, what hit us… Oh, my head hurts, but I'm otherwise okay."
"Luna, Artemis!" Usagi cried out from across the room as other voices rang out their groggy pleas for assistance.
The sound of alarms throbbed somewhere deep inside the ship as the smoke cleared. Umino climbed to his feet and winced at the pain caused by a gash where a piece of the console had broken away and struck his foot leaving a bloody mess. He examined the wound, frowned and straightened before limping towards where Jadeite and Mina were rounding up everyone.
"Everybody okay?" he asked, favoring one leg.
"Looks as if you're not sunshine," the leather clad blonde with an incongruent red bow holding back her abundance of blonde hair, the only feminine accoutrement clashing with the uniform, the laser rifle and silver utility belt said, squatting to examine his foot.
"I'll survive. Seems some of our people didn't though," he said, seeing the three dead women lying on the floor a short distance away as he felt his boot slip off his foot.
"I know. We were damned lucky to survive at all. Now, hold still," she ordered, her shimmering blue eyes fixed on him. "I think it could have been a lot worse. But yeah. We need to give those girls a proper send off. Mercury, check out their infirmary and see if they have an onboard morgue facility; they'd have to, wouldn't they?"
Mina was looking towards Mercury as she brought her med kit and soon began cleaning up the gash and nodded.
Umino took comfort in the beautiful distraction provided by both Senshi fighters kneeling at his feet and forgot the pain as the antiseptic cream worked its magic, as did the light touch of feminine fingertips upon his skin. He began thinking about Molly, and smiled to himself, closing his eyes and picturing her sweet face and lovely body clad in a short white tennis dress at Usagi and Mamoru's honeymoon homestead. He loved the way her red hair fell over her bare shoulders and how the sunlight made her bronzed limbs shimmer as she moved with skill and grace upon the grassy court.
‘No wonder she always beat me,' he thought with a wry grin. He opened his eyes, gazing once again upon the Aphrodite-like figure who was also an Athena of sorts, the laser rifle strapped over one shoulder and the figure hugging wet leather bodysuit that left little to the imagination. Mercury also, similarly attired, was truly a beauty and he couldn't help but drink in her loveliness, he was a man after-all and appreciated beauty from afar.
"Where's Mamoru, anyone seen him?" Usagi asked, standing up and dusting herself off.
"He's probably on one of the lower decks. We've wanted to avoid going down there just yet, in case these bastards ambush us," Mina explained, as Mercury checked everyone for injuries after she'd finished dressing Umino's injured foot.
~*~
"Umino, you know these birds do you, would you come with me?"
"Sure," and they headed off along the central corridor, Umino admiring the courage and the beauty of the almost blue-haired Senshi operative by his side as he favored his left leg.
Despite a brief search on the top deck, Mamoru was nowhere to be found. Bodies were lying everywhere, in the hallways whilst others were found in their quarters, this the story pretty much on the first two levels. They did find the infirmary and morgue facility.
The huge vessel had shut down all hatches – an automatic safety protocol set in motion upon impact. The engine room was more secure than was the deck below and likely the reason they survived the landing.
~*~
The cold carbon fiber casing Usagi found strangely reassuring as she tested the weight of the streamlined gun in her hand. "I have never used a weapon of any kind in my life. But knowing what we're up against, I think I can do this."
"Okay, let's secure the top decks of the ship, and if we do find any enemy, try and knock them out with these. Only kill if they try to kill you," Mina said, handing everyone a kaki bag filled with small gas grenades, all slipping the strap over their shoulders, as each swallowed an immunity capsule to avoid being overcome by the gas. "And this is important, before you use these, squeeze the pellet hard twice then throw it at the feet of your assailant."
She then handed stun guns out to all and instructed everyone on their use. Jadeite helped Umino and Usagi with their weapons and they did some dummy runs, firing blanks at a large piece of a broken door. Mina smiled and nodded as Usagi hit the target three times in a row, a perfect score.
"I feel like an old hand at this," Usagi said, feeling satisfied with her target practice.
"Good Usagi, I expected nothing less from the crown princess. Now these weapons can be set to termination mode at the flick of a switch, so if you're in a lethal situation, I suggest you use it in this mode. Your lives could depend on it, so don't allow altruism to cloud your judgment; ultraistic philosophies are fine, but not if you're dead – got it guys?" Everyone nodded. "Okay everyone, I think we're done here, and good girl, Usagi-chan!" Mina winked.
~*~
Soon they were sliding past fallen pylons, computer workstations and damaged bulkheads while making their way to the lower decks. The vessel was in repair mode' the trillions of nanites were augmenting the restoration of vital systems: life support, hull integrity, weapons and other ship's systems soon back on-line and not before time as the air was running out.
They slowly made their way along a circular corridor and found the kitchens and mess hall. Across the long rectangular metallic tables and the comfortable lounges of the rec room, Jadeite smiled at the sight of the pool tables and the holo imager consoles and sports equipment. "I could get used to this life quite easily."
"Not as sparse as the Northern Alliance fleet, but yeah, comfy," Miranda cut in, her hair long and styled like Usagi's and Jadeite wondered how many women adopted Usagi's hairstyle around the world and chuckled to himself.
Jessica giggled and elbowed him in the ribs. "Hey big boy, where are you right now, Hawaii?"
"Who wants to know, Pendragon?" he said roguishly. "And who are you, my tour guide?"
"Maybe, if you're up to the challenge. You have any notion of where exactly we are?" she questioned, as she touched his cheek, making him blush.
"No, but I think you're going to enlighten us all, right?" he winked.
"We are, according to my data link up on my Neptune hand held computer," Mercury jumped in, catching JP -- as the Senshi dubbed her affectionately -- and Jad off guard, "In one of the most dangerous places on the planet. It's a little wonderland filled not with gorgeous white bunnies and mad hatters late for impromptu tea parties, or even the Cheshire cat, but chimera mutants. Terminator biogenic GMO inspired life forms starting from aggressive bacteria, plants to the radioactive and other biogenic hybrids that make the Venus Fly trap look warm and fuzzy by comparison; not to mention the flying things, the reptiles and other horrors of this place, all complements of the Millennium War and those greedy entrepreneurs of the former GM industry."
"Shit, you're joking. Tell me you're joking,” Umino piped up as he joined the group of Senshi warriors and Shitennou gathering around them as they looked at one another with a sense of alarm and panic in their eyes.
"Yes unfortunately, we are somewhere in the Sino, Indian or eastern EU territories of the Eastern Inferno, some 19000 square miles of sheer dystopian bliss!"
"Yeah, I'll book it for my next vacation,” Araya said, her words dripping with sarcasm as she shook loose her mane of long black hair from its scrunchie that she shoved into the pocket of her bodysuit.
Makoto, assigned the code name, Jupiter approached the growing numbers within the rec room and smiled as she sported an apron and spatula. "I'm the resident cook amongst you lot. Let's get some food into our stomachs before we go on with the search. We've been out cold for hours, and I don't know about you but I'm pretty hungry," Jupiter announced.
"I second the motion," Usagi said, allowing her concern for Mamoru to give way a little to her culinary needs. "What-ya got Mako-chan?"
"I think a super Mako-omelet for starters, hot herb bread, a salad and fruit flow, my specialty. Coffee and tea or juice for refreshments and, for dessert, yoghurt, cinnamon apple sauce and baked pumpkin and roasted potatoes and baked sweet potato stuffed with tasty cheese glazed with honey sauce rolled in sesame seeds, sound inviting?"
"You bet!" she sighed as thoughts of Mamoru trapped on the lower deck gnawed at the back of her mind, but Makoto was right, everyone needed their strength.
"Araya, please help JP and me out in the kitchen?" The raven-haired soldier smiled, slapping Araya on the shoulder and nodded before joining the girls in the battle to feed their small army.
After they'd eaten and met in the makeshift ready room they'd set up on the bridge, last minute instructions and encouragement was dispatched before they set off to search for Mamoru. This thing was huge and it would take an hour or two to search every deck and compartment, ‘Mamoru had to be all right, he had to be,' Usagi thought as she sighed as their large party set out on their task.
~*~
Mamoru groaned as he rolled on his back and for a moment, he forgot where he was, the sound of sparking wires and hissing gas, and the dust and debris covering the floor assailed his senses. He sat up and looked around. Thankfully, the gas was oxygen, and he sighed with relief, fumbled with a back up emergency valve and sealed it off.
Feeling a little disheveled and unaffected by ware for his experience, he decided to move down the corridor.
"Mamoru!"
"Usagi?" he smiled, as he saw the petite blonde run towards him and hug him.
"Hey, it's good to see you, too! You okay," he said looking at her pale features.
"Yeah, just a little concussion is all, how about you! I was worried."
“I’m really sorry about what happened there, and I know, you understand. I still feel bad about all of it though.”
"Bitch, she's always trying to get what isn't hers!" she growled.
Mamoru looked at her quizzically, "Usagi? You okay, "you don't sound-"
She grabbed his arm tight. He winced as her fingers almost cut off his circulation. She wasn't herself, shock he thought, but he couldn't be exactly sure. Brushing it off, he smiled as she let go and apologized. "I mean, I can't stand the thought of that woman and what she made you do is all," she went on, "it was horrible, the crash, all the dead bodies! I-I-" and she began to cry.
"I know. Its bad. Look, I will get us out of here, but I have no idea where ‘here' is. Did your captors tell you where they were headed?" he asked as they moved towards an emergency exit.
"No, but I did hear them say it was dangerous out there and there were… monsters out there!" she shuddered, and Mamoru hugged her as they stood before the exit. He wondered how she knew where the escape port was, then put it down to her resourcefulness and the fact she must have overheard her abductors talking about it and as she punched in a series of numbers onto the touchpad he arched an eyebrow.
Catching his reaction she grinned, "I watched one of them do it before I found you, he left the ship and went… out there!" she said, batting her eyelashes.
"Okay, but I think before we go out into the unknown, is there a store facility, did you see anything like that?" he looked back the way they'd come.
She turned to face him. "Yeah, I almost forgot, come on! I know where one such store is located."
Shrugging, he followed as Usagi trotted down the corridor at a run and he struggled to keep up. She was extremely fit, or the adrenalin was working overtime. He figured that under stressful conditions people could act out of character, even display extraordinary physical strength.
By the time he'd caught up, she was packing food and other outdoor equipment into two packs and he helped her prepare.
"We won't want much for anything Mamoru, tents, camp beds and all, but we just need the bare essentials: food, water, tents, ground mats, inflatable lye lows and the blankets are light weight, too.”
She hoisted her bulky pack over one shoulder as if it was super light and he grinned. "Been working out Usagi?"
She nodded and gave him the thumbs up sign, and laughed, "A girl's got to keep fit for her husband's rampant appetites, and you should know, Mamo-chan!"
Mamoru stopped dead in his tracks, half way to slipping the heavier than expected pack over one shoulder. Was she goading him? He had never laid a hand on her. They'd never had sex, nor even talked about it, and he was confused and a little pissed off and said as much, "Okay, Usagi I know I haven't taken advantage of you and you know I respect you, so what's with the wise crack?"
"W-what… I'm sorry. I never meant…" tears welled up in her eyes and she began to cry.
Mamoru sighed, and dropped the backpack at his feet and put his arms around her and held her as she sniffled and looked up adoringly into his eyes. "Maybe you're right, I shouldn't have talked out of turn. I am a little disorientated and feeling a bit sick. Shock, I think that's it…"
"All right, but we need to find the others," he said, picking up the pack once more.
"They're not on the ship, they've been taken to a holding station, or at least that's what I overheard."
"Hell, they've got a head start on us. Did they say anything that indicates where this place is?" he said, loading a pistol from the open armory cupboard, "We'll need these, here!" he tossed one to Usagi and she looked at it strangely.
"But I don't know how to use this…"
"Maybe I can show you later, all you need do is release the safety catch and practice. But leave it with me and we can do that later, ready?"
"No, it's all right, I remember now, I know how to use this, I am feeling hazy," she told him.
He nodded and stepped towards her and kissed her forehead before looking into her eyes to examine her from a medical point of view. "Well your eyes are a little dilated, and you do look pale, so lets get some food into you and water before we go, Usagi."
"Good idea."
~*~
They set out at dusk, the glare of the sun almost blinding, even at this time of day. Mamoru looked to the hills and realized the sun wasn't setting in that direction, having caught the golden daystar in retreat over the mountains behind him. He gasped. The hills were, glowing.
"We're in the Eastern Inferno! Shit, we better be on our guard Usagi, this place is deadly!"
‘Not half as deadly as am I, Chiba Mamoru, or is it Endymion.'
~*~
"Where the hell is he you snake!" Usagi said, aiming the pistol at the trembling woman's heart, "I'm not afraid to use this thing if I have to… now talk!" she snapped, pressing the long barrel against Beryl's chest.
"B-but you have to listen to me, Usagi. You don't understand," she gasped as Mina, Araya and Jadeite entered the room, weapons pointing towards the wide-eyed redhead, "he's mad, he will kill him!"
"Talk sense Beryl! What the hell are you on about!" Mina demanded.
"Mamoru, he's got Mamoru, he thinks he's you, Usagi!"
"What kind of crap are you spinning now Beryl, you're lucky I don't shoot you now for forcing Mamoru to have sex with you, bitch!" Usagi hissed, "and what do you mean Mamoru thinks he's me, what is he a cross dresser or what!" she laughed, not amused but in fury.
"No you don't understand, Seiya is a shape shifter. He has nano-physiology, I thought he had only the ability to shape shift after a treatment at the clinic. But no, he is a cyborg! We've got to go after them before he kills Mamoru! He's gone mad, likely, the nanites have done something to his brain. But we're wasting time damn it, Usagi you have to believe me!"
"And why should we believe you when you kidnapped us and raped Mamoru, and work for these terrorists? Tell us that!"
"Look there's no time, let's just say I had an epiphany, I was obsessed with power, and yes Kamis forgive me and I wanted Mamoru and I regret having forced him to have sex. After I had been thrown against the bulkhead and was knocked out, he showed me more compassion than I deserved. He is a good man, a guy who is much too good for the likes of me. Usagi, Princess… please, you have to believe me. I am sorry for my part in all this, but I swear my allegiance to you now if that makes any difference. Punish or bitch-slap me, but we're wasting time!"
"Oh by the Kamis, you're not lying! Guys, we have to trust her!" Araya said, she was an expert on body language and could tell the distraught vermillion haired woman was telling the truth. Usagi burst into tears.
