Corrosive heart and frozen heat
We’re worlds apart where we could meet
Where the chosen hold the highest card
On the field of honor
Where the ground is hard
In lands far
The idiot wields the power
The tower
The moon
Cloudburst all around
Yet
The best is yet to come
Heat seeking out of the sun
The meek inherit what they damn well please
Go figure
Go ahead and pull the trigger
Everything under the gun
Andrew Eldritch Sisters of Mercy 1990s)
“Ready guys?” Kira asked as Mamoru extended his hand to help Usagi into the back of the hummer.
“If not, it’s too late to go back now,” he said, as Colonel Charmaine Grolier called in for aerial support.
Jake sat behind the wheel and told some jokes to keep up morale as everyone strapped in. The convoy 250 strong all inoculated against the plague ready to go.
Setsuna had supervised the inoculations, the limit set by the senshi of time, 150000, and just fewer than 10000 vaccinated, many villagers and city refugees, most women and children made up just under half.
She went onto explain who and why these inoculations were not just for coalition forces alone, this had upset Usagi and the others, yet the decision was final. The Guardian of Time kept her own council on this, and reluctantly everybody accepted her position.
Possessing senshi and Shitennou abilities, the new super-soldiers were more than able to handle the mutants.
“Let me help you there Ami and Kira.” Eliza Yukito, said, taking two heavy packs and tossing them into the storage bay then like a bird, hopped into the vehicle as the doors closed and soon they were ambling through the foothills towards the high country and the unknown.
-
The Claws of War
By Tsukino Usagi and Kira Tompkins
Iraq
The endless justifications of war in the 21st century were often a myth, one written in blood and cordite.
Young men and women on both sides cut down in their prime and for what. Pawns in some chess game where the players nobody ever saw continued to inflict great suffering with impunity.
The so-called powers that be, controlling it all from lavish conference rooms lined with corporate representatives and their political lapdogs in lofty office towers or ostentatious chambers in Washington, Brussels, London, Jerusalem, the palace in Bahrain to Geneva, wining and dining while plotting the fate of humanity and the entire planet were answerable to no-one.
Yet, there were now new players; we’d seen their monsters but not the faces of this unknown and deadly new nemesis. We had no doubt these were a far darker proposition than all of the insurgency and cruel minions of evil on both sides of the conflict, the so-called dark ops.
No, these newcomers were otherworldly, of that we were certain.
Wars were usually waged for profit, hegemonic expansion, the manipulation of billions, but with this new enemy, the war had turned into a hornet’s nest of dystopian horror.
-
I was new at this, and Kira helped me process all of it, being a war correspondent wasn’t easy though it had its good points.
I was wising up to the ways of the world seen through my friend’s eyes and developing an instinct for news and truth in print I’d not appreciated before coming to Bagdad.
The whole business of war senseless and cruel and yet, the battlefields were filled with the cyphers that spelt out the futility of conflict driven by faceless men and women in far off lands.
-
Usagi was a quick study, and she helped me on many occasions, having saved my life countless times, and I hers. We are watching each other’s backs and that is how a good journalist team works out here on the battlefield.
The desert, a graveyard lay prostrate before its supplicants etched into the harsh terrain the suffering, the unending death casting its shadow upon a war weary people would not fade so easily.
We were here to bear witness compelled to record it all: the good, bad and the inspiring.
BBC Middle East
Dark Kingdom
“So, what do we have here, hmmm? Intruders surely not. I have it, surprise guests here to congratulate me on my ascension to the throne of the Dark Kingdom, of course, welcome! Please strangers, what brings you to my realm?” Zoisite said, seated upon the throne in fine black robes holding Beryl’s old power staff.
“An alliance, but first, I need to make the odds a little more even,” Raymore said, raising his hand and sending a pulse of blue light towards the darkness where several youma centurions screamed in pain and one tall figure collapsed to his knees gasping for air. “The name’s Raymore, Techno mage and bounty hunter at your service.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Zoisite said, eyes narrowing, he wondered why the fighting outside the palace had stopped and sent Kujo to investigate then turned his attention back to Raymore and the sexy young woman by his side.
“I like social visits to be uncluttered, you understand,” Raymore said with a cool dismissive heir as he shot an icy stare at the Silver-Haired Dark General on the opposite side of the chamber standing beside a naked winged sprite with a frightening face carved from black onyx bearing its incisors.
“But of course, I would do the same in your place. Oh Kunzite, you are so predictable, it is time you bowed before me, instead of that little whore and her egg mistress.”
“Fuck you, you little lizard’s shit!” Kunzite growled, balling his fists in an attempt at self-control he found near impossible to maintain.
“Now gentlemen please. I must ask you be a little more attentive, we wish to form an alliance, but in order to do that we must clear the air first.”
“I am the Lady Tria; we have come from a place outside your universe to gain a foothold on the world you call Earth.” Beryl was relieved that not a hint of suspicion of her former identity showed on the faces of these dark men she had once controlled as a ruthless monarch.
“Ah, a woman after my own heart, and oh my, you are a beauty,” Zoisite looked her up and down and licked his lips. “Perhaps, something could be arranged but I need something in return.”
“Name it,” Raymore said, keeping his eyes on both men.
“The senshi known as Sailor Moon, I want her brought here and presented before me chained, and humiliated, I leave that task to you, but can I trust you?”
“No, I wouldn’t trust me, but I think it would be in both our interests if we at least try to work towards a common goal. As you are well aware, the Dark Kingdom rarely if ever keeps its friends, so strictly a business arrangement, and no tricks.”
“All right, I agree.” Zoisite bit his lip and looked at the visitors, unsure if these two could be trusted but he might get a chance to seduce the woman and kill her sidekick at some later stage of their working arrangement.
He brightened and rose to his feet and clapped, two pretty human youma hybrids brought wine and food escorting King Zoisite’s guests to their table that materialized at the foot of the steps leading up to the king’s throne. Raymore and Tria sat. Zoisite ate from his seat of power as his guests had their fill and made casual conversation.
---
Kunzite knew he could not risk a confrontation with Zoisite or these strangers. He did the next best thing; he intended to absorb the power of Metalia and use it against Tetis to double-cross her and kill Nephrite, but these new circumstances complicated matters. Therefore, he decided to alter the plan, clean up here, and then with his legions of youma and acquired droids he would return to the Earth and attack the most powerful of its nations.
He would first kill Diamond whom had only just arrived in the palace forecourt; it was perfect timing.
Once he'd established his dominion he would turn Venus to the dark and have her as his consort, it was all so perfect a strategy.
He vanished, materializing inside Metalia’s chamber. Raising his sword he struck down the youma guarding the egg, threw a net over the sickly object, and tied it in a knot before vanishing again.
“I have plans for you mistress!”
He entered the dark temple and stood before a pool of unstable dark energy. Mesmerized he watched as it spun in a cauldron of black granite.
He stripped off and untied the egg, holding it in his arms before smashing it against the stone rim.
The wraith-like entity, a dark misty girl with hellish red eyes and a dark mouth that drew upon the heat in the room saw him and screamed.
“Kunzite, traitor, why do you betray me!”
“Think of it Metalia as a rebirth, you and I will become a new dark power greater than all those who have come before you, a being far more powerful than Lord Chaos himself. With our unified essence, the universe and all that lies beyond will be ours…, behold!”
“I will resist you, Kunzite,” she said, but knew she would not, power was the ultimate elixir, and she needed, thrived on it and even if she were no more, and he too was sacrificed, what they would become would be more glorious and dangerous than any evil force conceived by her hands.
She nodded and embraced him as they jumped into the post-quantum solution and sank into the whirlpool. The resulting explosion ripped apart the basement and the throne toppled throwing Zoisite to the floor.
---
Raymore sensed what had happened knowing in advance the course of events and as Zoisite lay on the flagstone in a pool of blood, he nodded to Tria and she fired the weapon killing the corrupted Shitennou.
“We’re out of here, our work is done.”
“Are you sure?”
“Trust me; this little baby will take care of everything.”
So saying, he placed the pulsing sphere atop the central pedestal and bowed, taking Tria’s hand.
They appeared back at the small craft and climbed in.
“What now?” Tria whispered feeling scared as the palace began to shake violently and the droids and youma were beaming up to Diamond’s ship.
“We’re hijacking Diamond’s cruiser. Sapphire won’t mind, he’s on our side. We’re out of here pretty lady!”
---
The drones launched one final assault. The castle exploded into a huge red cloud of fire, the blast wave resounding across the surface of the barren world and into space, the angry clouds encircling the planet.
Nebulous storms of deadly intensity were jousting with one another, fiery dragons and winged beasts of all kinds engaging in a deadly fight to the finish that would soon reach its incredible crescendo. Raymore knew the pure spirits of the Shitennou were finally free of the darkness; the resulting explosion would cause a perilous cascade on the subatomic and re-order the Dark Kingdom and it would return to proto-matter; neutralized at last.
---
“Sapphire, get a move on, time to get out of here lest we be fried. The rift is healed here at least, and we are all in one piece.” Raymore said, still holding Tria’s hand.
“As you wish Lord Raymore!” Sapphire responded as they passed out of Dark Kingdom space.
TBC
