VOLUME 2-2

Sailor Moon Cyber - Series Two: Volume Two - Judgement Call

Sailor SunFire, Sailor Saturn and CyberWarlock sat on the edge of the roof of the mall, watching the sunset and the people bustling to and fro.

"So what makes Mercury so sure that these things will strike here next?" asked Cyber as he flicked a stone from the roof down to the pavement below. They had been waiting here for over an hour, on a hunch, or rather, a 'calculation' of Ami's that their mysterious new adversary would show up.

"Well you know Mercury." replied SunFire. "And I haven't as yet found a reason not to trust her judgment." CyberWarlock grunted something similar to a reply and tossed another pebble hurtling towards the parking lot.

"Was their something else you would rather be doing Nick?" SunFire inquired, raising an eyebrow at the quizzical behaviour of their newest ally. "And by the way, since you are 'technically' one of the good guys now, you should think about adding some colour to that wardrobe of yours."

"Humph, this from the only Senshi who doesn't wear white?" Cyber chuckled, then let out a long sigh. "I just hate waiting. I'm a man of action you know?"

"I know." smiled Hotaru, who rested her hand gently on his shoulder. "We shouldn't have to wait much longer. Every time they have attacked in the last week it has been just after sunset. Ami thinks that they may not be able to handle the bright sunlight."

"Well, we'll see how they deal with a bright SunFire then right?" Leti grinned at her two companions.

CyberWarlock smiled back and looked towards Sailor SunFire. "Right! Oh, and to answer your earlier question? I'll add colour to my outfit when cape-boy changes his!"

"When are you two going to stop acting like high school rivals and realize you are both on the same side?" Saturn asked exasperatedly as she playfully smacked CyberWarlock in the back of the head. "If you guys got over the raging testosterone and sat down to look at life for a moment, you might realize you have more in common than you think. Mamoru was once a pawn of evil too."

"Seems to be a lot of that going around." SunFire said and winked at Saturn, who blushed and looked down.

"Whatever doesn't kill us..." spoke Cyber as he stood up and brushed the dust from his armor. "Company's here, break out the good china. Looks like Mercury's suspicions were correct... as usual." He pointed to the iridescent flash of green light on the other side of the parking lot, which marked the arrival of their prey.

"You know the drill girls," said Cyber as he stepped out and began to slowly levitate to the ground below. "I'll get their attention, you two flank them from the sides. Let's see if we can't put a dent in their little plan!"

Although he would never admit it to his companions, Nick was somewhat frightened by the prospect of actually confronting these creatures. Over the past week, since their initial appearance, there had been another reported attack by these beings every night. And each time, the Sailor Senshi had arrived too late to do anything but watch their enemies fade away in a greenish glow. During the last such encounter, Nick had tried to analyse the force providing their escape. It was definitely not magick since it left no residual traces for him to follow. He had therefore concluded that it must be some form of advanced technology, but he needed this 'meeting' to get further readings on it and see if he and Ami could come up with a possible weakness in it.

The Outer Senshi had been severely beaten by the creatures in the first attack, and the Tokyo authorities that had attempted to subdue the assailants had faired worse for the trying. These guys were very strong, very fast and very, very lethal. CyberWarlock landed softly on the pavement and strode boldly towards the two creatures in red, drawing his sword, which lit up the area around him as he walked.

"That got their attention," he thought to himself as the two creatures had stopped their own forward movements and were now staring intently at him. "Well, now that I have an audience... what is it Tuxedo Mask always says? Oh yeah...

"You have come to this world bringing destruction in your wake and that will not be tolerated. As a guardian of the lives on this world I order you to surrender and return from whence you came!"

Their answer to his request came within seconds, as a blast of green light shot towards him. Nick jumped up and flipped easily over the attack, landing again in a battle stance.

"Not the answer I was looking for, but it 'was' the one I was expecting." CyberWarlock stepped sideways, muttering arcane words as he did, moving himself from where he stood to re-appear directly behind one of the aliens. He swung his sword in a downward arc and yelped with surprise as the intended victim quickly dodged his blow. "Goddess but they're quick."

The creatures turned and swung their staves at him, forcing him backwards. Completely on the defensive, it was all Nick could do to keep the blows from landing. Their attacks were as quick and deadly as lightning. Already he could feel his arms beginning to tire from blocking blow after repeated blow. For all the times in the past he had cursed his vampiric blood, Nick was thankful now for the speed and endurance it provided him. Without it, he would have been defeated 20 seconds ago.

CyberWarlock opened his mouth to say something witty, knowing that he could not keep this up much longer, and was surprised to notice that no sound came out. It was then that he realized there was no sound anywhere. No traffic, no insects... only, Silence.

"Oh crap!" he thought as he threw himself backward with all the strength left in his body. "A little warning next time would be nice!"

The ground where he and his assailants had been standing erupted into fragments of pavement and dirt as a brilliant white light exploded upwards, sending the attacking creatures flying through the air. CyberWarlock blocked his face with his left arm as chunks of asphalt flew past him.

The scarlet clad creatures began to scramble to their feet. A little slower now, Nick noticed, then they had been previously. A burst of light from his left-hand side shot towards the aliens, followed by the echoing sound of SunFire's voice screaming "Wrath of Rah!"

The first of the two managed to throw itself aside quickly enough to avoid SunFire's devastating attack. Its companion however, was not as fortunate and screamed in a high pitch, almost insect-like voice as the white-hot flame washed over its body. The creature doubled over, its helmet falling from its head as it landed unconscious on the ground. Sailor SunFire stopped the rolling helmet under her boot and looked towards the remaining creature.

"Oh, that felt good! And you're next on the hit list buddy!" proclaimed SunFire as she kicked the headgear towards it. "You picked the wrong planet to mess with!"

The alien lunged at SunFire, screaming its rage. Leti attempted to move out of the way caught unprepared for the speed of its attack, but as the invader's staff swung down towards her head, it was intercepted by Hotaru's Glaive and thrust harmlessly aside.

Given the breather and the half-second of indecision on the alien's part, SunFire leapt forward, swinging her Ankh Staff into it with all her strength, knocking it back several feet. Saturn was quick to jump into the fray and the two Senshi began raining blows down on the creature that, though managing to block their combined attack, was hopelessly on the defensive.

"Well," thought Nick as he quickly jogged around to take up a position behind the would-be assailant. "That looks familiar. I wonder how he likes a taste of his own medicine?"

The alien blocked and parried again and again, having no time to make an offensive strike of its own. Seeking to gain better ground, it crouched slightly and attempted to jump up and over its attackers, but it never left the ground. Shocked, it swung its head around to find CyberWarlock gripping the straps on the back of its encounter suit, holding it firmly in place.

"Goodnight!" said CyberWarlock cheerfully as he swung his fist squarely into the faceplate of the alien, shattering the glass-like substance. CyberWarlock swung the creature around by its belt straps and sent it squealing into a wall. The creature moaned and crawled forward on its belly. "Well, that took a bit of the fight out of you didn't it?"

The creature looked up, and knowing that this was a fight he could not win, he touched his wrist pad controls, activating the ship's transport beam, retrieving itself and its companion, back to the relative safety of their scout ship.

"Oh yeah, feel the power baby!" laughed SunFire as the green glow of the alien transport faded away. "We came, we saw."

"We got lucky!" interrupted CyberWarlock. "We caught them by surprise and managed to win this encounter. The next time we meet, it will be much harder. They will be expecting us. We can only hope that the readings I took on their technology will prove useful."

"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud Nick!" said SunFire as she clasped a hand on his shoulder. "We're the good guys! We beat them once, and we'll beat them again!"

"Foolish child!" Nick yelled as he brushed Leti's hand from his arm. Leti took a step back and looked at him with shock and surprise. "I tasted their power. I fought against them. And this time, there were only two of them! What if there are more? Uranus, Neptune and Pluto fought just two of them, and where did it get them? Yes, we did well here tonight, but if you start getting cocky about it, you will wind up sharing a hospital bed with the latest of their victims!"

CyberWarlock stomped off across the parking lot, phasing into normal clothing as he left. SunFire stared, mouth agape, as he left. She looked quizzically at Hotaru, who merely shrugged and ran off after Nick.

"Gee Leti, thanks for helping. We couldn't have done it without you!" SunFire mumbled to herself, as she watched her companions walk away in the distance. "Well, no one said saving the world was easy."

Leti shrugged and walked away in the opposite direction.

"One day I'm going to figure those two out. And I'm really not sure if I want to!"

The End of Series Two, Part Two

SERIES ONE

SERIES TWO