Sailor Moon 
                              Alternate Reality
                              *****************
               
                         Part 5: "The Reflecting God..."
                                
                                
                            Written by Strike Fiss, 
                            Ninja Crowbotics, 1997
                                
                                
                                
                                
                                
                                
                    


            
                                
                                
                              Prologue and Review
                                
                                 1 Month ago:







     It had been a quiet night.  In more ways than one, though, it was almost 
too quiet.  Chris and Maury stood on their favourite hill overlooking Calgary.  
It was winter...again...and a light snow now fell over the twinkling lights and 
honking cars.  
     "I hate quiet nights." Chris sighed, disappointed.  "Wanna go home?"
     Maury shrugged.  "I dunno.  Nothing to do there either.  I'd rather stay 
out here and catch the last nice night of the season.  Spring's no fun cause 
everything gets all slushy."
     "Makes for great driving, though!" Chris smiled, making swerving motions 
with his hands.  "I love doing a doughnut right in front of little kids.  Really 
impress them."
     Maury smiled and they were quiet for a few more moments.  "So, how's 
university?"  
     "Boring as hell.  I guess it would be better if I was single, but I'm 
hanging in there." Chris sighed.
     "Still hung up on Rei?" Maury nodded.  "I don't blame you.  Lita's still 
got my heart too."
     Chris smiled.  "No doubt about that.  You two are like cheese and cloves.  
A perfect match."
     "Cloves??" Maury raised an eyebrow.  "Uh, sure."
     Chris had been going to a University Transfer program as an excuse to stay 
around with Maury and Andrea for an extra year at least.  He was eighteen now, 
and Maury now seventeen, Andrea sixteen.  They never talked about the Scouts 
much, though.  It was kind of redundant after more than two years since their 
last visit.  "Well, I'm getting in the car.  It's too cold."
     Maury nodded, pulling close his trenchcoat.  "Yeah...we'd better go I 
guess."
     The two got into Chris' car and sped off down the snowy back road.  
"Mayonnaise" by the Smashing Pumpkins was playing on the radio, and gave the car 
an almost lonely feeling.  "I don't like tonight.  It's too strange." Chris 
finally said.
     "What do you mean?" Maury asked.
     "Everything seems too uneventful.  The suspense is killing me." Chris 
replied.
     "Well, at least the parents let you use the new car." Maury smiled.  "Mine 
still say that as soon as they let me use theirs, I'll have to fight an evil 
monster and trash it with a fire..."
     Chris instinctively popped the car into neutral.  "ONE TWO THREEEE!" he 
yelled, swerving to avoid a person who darted out in front of the car.  "Who was 
that?" He gasped as the car jolted to a stop.
     Maury turned.  "I have no idea...I thought I saw she was wearing a Sailor 
Scout uniform!"
     Chris nodded.  "Never mind about what I said earlier...I guess events just 
started happening." he said, doing an one-eighty and putting the car in park.
     The two got out and walked down the road.  Chris, who had also been 
transformed, hid his sword behind his back.  Maury focused a bit of his power 
and caused the area to lighten. "Who's there!?!"
     A horrible laugh filled the air.  Almost like Zoicite, only more cackling 
and high-pitched.  They saw who it was coming from.  Indeed, the someone was a 
woman wearing a Scout uniform.       

     Solid gold.

     Chris and Maury frowned.  "Who the hell??" Chris asked.
     Maury shrugged.  "I have no idea..."
     The gold-Scout walked up to the two.  "I...sorry...English no too good." 
she said, clearing her throat."
     Chris smiled.  "No problem.  Who are you?" he asked in a friendly tone.  "A 
new Sailor Scout?"
     "You call me Sailor Galaxia." she replied in a slightly sharper tone.  
     Maury didn't like the situation.  He tried to get a vision of the near 
future, but something was blocking his powers...probably from the time of night, 
the sun would be on the far side of the planet now.  "Okay, Miss Galaxia...what 
do you want?"
     They were completely unprepared for the answer.  "I need your star 
seeds..."
     Chris nonchalantly backed up and withdrew his sword.  "Oh...is that right?  
Perhaps you've had one too many drinks tonight, cause you don't seem to realize 
who you're dealing with."
     Maury frowned.  "I don't like this..."
     Chris nodded.  "Just move along, and we won't have to hurt you."
     Galaxia jumped in the air, held out her arms, and shot two glowing balls of 
light from her arm bracelets.  Chris and Maury dove out of the way at the last 
second.  "Holy shit!" Maury yelled, getting to his feet.
     Chris did the same .  "Bitch!  Now you're gonna get it."
     Maury reached to his belt and threw four Sol Stars at the hovering Sailor 
Galaxia.  They impacted on her body without so much as a ripple of gas.  She 
smiled at him.  "Baka Sol."
     Maury growled.  "That was an insult...wasn't it!?!"
     "Yes it was!" Chris jumped up at Galaxia, sword first.  Galaxia simply 
hovered to a higher altitude as the blade hit only air.  "Get down from there!" 
Chris growled.  "FISS!"
     The force pulse hit Galaxia, and she looked down at him with surprise as 
she was forced to correct her altitude.  "Interesting..." she muttered.
     "Yeah, friggn enthralling." Chris smiled.  "Now get before we have to kick 
your ass."
     Maury nodded.  "SOL POWER!"
     The area darkened, and Galaxia loss sight of the two.  "What the...?" she 
muttered in Japanese.  "The Prince of the Sun has power even in darkness?"
     She didn't like this.  The Sun WAS the most powerful object in this star 
system, and Scouts from stars had more power than your conventional Sailor...and 
she had many easier targets that could be attacked first.  Plus, Prince Sol 
wasn't alone, and her energy field didn't seem to resist Prince Saturn's sword.  
     The darkness was cut by another series of Sol Stars.  Galaxia absorbed them 
and shouted a spell.  Her suit began radiating light, repelling Maury's dark-
spell.  Soon, she was staring down the two boys again.  
     Chris had his second sword out.  Galaxia frowned.  "You are very 
lucky...tonight at least." she said, lifting off the ground.  "I shall worry 
about you three later.  I have easier prey to contend with first."
     She shimmered and was gone. 
     Chris and Maury were wide-eyed.  "Easier prey?" they both gasped.  "The 
other Scouts?"
     Chris ran over to the car and propped his laptop on it's hood.  "Darien was 
supposed to be taking a flight over to Harvard soon...what if that bitch attacks 
him on the plane?"
     Maury nodded.  "What did she mean by our seeds?"
     Chris tapped away at his keyboard.  "Rei told me about a year ago, there 
were some assholes attacking them for their heart crystals.  That's when Uranus 
and Neptune showed up again.  That crazy Galaxia chick might be collecting them 
or something similar if she's after everyone."
     "Why didn't she get ours, then?" Maury asked.
     Chris smiled.  "Cause you're the Prince of the Sun.  You're probably more 
powerful than you realize.  She probably wanted to save the hardest for last."
     "What are you doing on the computer?"
     "GRRR!!" Chris shut the laptop.  "Darien's plane is already in the air."

     That's when it started.


     
     
     3 Hours Later:




     Darien's grip tightened on his staff.  This was hardly the place to 
fight...on the wing of a jumbo-jet over the ocean...but what choice did he 
have??
     Galaxia stood across the wing with a carefree smile.  
     Darien tilted his head, making the sunlight reflect of his mask 
dramatically.  Then, he raised his staff and leapt into the air with a grunt.  
He watched Galaxia's body come closer and closer until he was almost within arms 
reach.  He swung his staff around, hoping to land a hit to her waist, but she 
shot upwards into the air.  He had little manoeuvring options on the wing of
the aircraft, and skidded to a halt before he could fall over the edge.
     Darien stumbled and got to his feet a moment later to see the gold-suited 
Sailor pointing her bracelets at him.  She fired off the same glowing energy 
that almost claimed Chris and Maury earlier on that day...this time, however, 
the light hit it's target.
     He gasped, mask and hat fluttering away.  Tuxedo Mask fell to his knees as 
he felt whatever sinister power she had shot out take effect. 
     The next few minutes were a blur.  He remembered seeing Galaxia hold his 
crystal in her hands and her muttering something to him.  He recalled vaguely 
about his reply...but he remembered in perfect, crystal clarity, his last word: 
"Usako..."
     Darien dissolved in a shower of light-particles.  Galaxia watched over with 
an unsatisfied, almost surprised face.  All the previous Sailor Soldiers had 
begged and pleaded for their lives, or promised her they'd see her in hell.  
This latest one, however, gave her no satisfaction.  She pocketed the crystal 
and took off from the wing.




     7 days ago, closer to the present:




     Sailor Moon floated quietly above the Earth.  It was finally over. It had 
taken the defeat of all of her friends, and probably even the death of Chibi 
Chibi...but nevertheless, it was over.  
     Galaxia had been set free of the mysterious Chaos entity controlling her, 
and promised to look after the star-seeds she had collected from all the Sailor 
Scouts.
     She continued to float, now naked and sporting a pair of wings.  Why 
couldn't she have destroyed Galaxia while her friends were still alive?  
"Everyone..." she whispered quietly.  "I tried my best.  But I'm so lonely by 
myself... I'm not that strong." she paused as she realized what she was saying.  
"I'm lonely."
     "You're not alone, Serena." a familiar voice rang out through the sky.
     "Rei?"
     "We're all right here." Ami's reassuring voice came after.
     Small shimmering crystals began to appear in a circle around Serena.  
Galaxia was indeed taking care of the star-seeds...she had returned them to 
their rightful place.
     One by one, Rei, Ami, Lita, Mina came first, each shimmering into existence 
around their crystals, becoming intact once more from the sources of their 
power.  "We knew you could do it!" Mina smiled happily.
     "We believed in you all along."  Lita said, floating next to her.
     The Outer Scouts all appeared.  Sailor Moon's eyes were wide.  "This isn't 
a dream, is it?"
     Haruka shook her head with a smile. "It's not a dream.  You saved the 
world!"

     


     And so, the next chapter begun.
















                                     Chapter 1







     Dave Reinquest walked down the hall, holding a small crystal in his hand.  
It had been a good day.  He had finished probably the most important report in 
his career as an Omega Web member, and there had been a great 'X-Files' on that 
evening.  "Poor Mulder." he sighed. "We'd mail you the proof of aliens, but we 
don't have your address."
     The other Omega Webs often laughed at his television watching.  After all, 
when you have an IQ that is above most standardized tests, you begin to realize 
how stupid most television is.  Dave didn't care.  It was nice to see things 
from Humanity's point of view once in a while.  All too often the Omega Web 
would think too highly of itself.  
     He walked up to the Superintendent's quarters and coughed.  The noise 
automatically triggered the interior doorbell, and a second later, the door 
dissolved into nothing, allowing him to pass. 
     It shimmered back into existence behind him.  "Oh..."
     The room was dark.  Not just in light, but Dave felt this horrible deathly 
haze had gripped the air.  "Superintendent?" he called out, hoping she hadn't 
proved her death's point-prediction wrong and died early.
     "Yes.  Yes, hello Dave." an elderly woman's voice called out from a corner 
of the room. "Please, come, keep me company."
     Dave smiled and walked over to the couch where she was sitting.  "Good 
morning." he said, trying to seem happy despite her appearance.  "How are you 
feeling today?"
     The old woman was obviously dying.  It didn't take a medical degree to see 
why.  The Superintendent was over four hundred years old.  Time, although it had 
been good to her, had just about run out of good-will.  Bones seemed the only 
solid feature of her body, and were plentiful, as her skin was ancient and 
paper-thin.  "Not too bad.  Actually, I think the Point Calculator was right. 
Sometimes tomorrow, I guess.  For tonight, though, I'm okay."
     "That's good to hear." he nodded, sitting down at an adjacent chair, making 
sure not to fold the back of his flowing white lab-coat.  
     The Superintendent coughed.  "So, Mr. Reinquest.  Why have you traveled 
down into the recesses of the Omega Web to visit me on a nice Sunday afternoon 
when you could be outside?"
     "Well, I brought good news." Dave said, showing her the crystal he had been 
carrying. "You wanna read it?"
     She shook her head weakly.  "That's okay.  I'd like it better if you could 
tell me in person." she smiled, wrinkling her face.  "You were always a great 
story-teller."
     Dave nodded.  "Well, the Sailor Scouts defeated Chaos, so it looks like we 
won't have to worry about pulling any resources to help them out.  We even 
managed to track the entity.  It's skittering off to a jump-point.  We might be 
able to destroy it without interfering after all."
     The old woman nodded, absorbing the information.  "This is great news...I 
applaud your handling the situation." she said sweetly.
     "Really?  You've been keeping up on the mission?" Dave asked, honoured the 
woman would care about his side projects in her last few days on Earth.  
     She nodded.  "A less rational person would probably have leapt into the 
battle without a second thought.  You stood your ground, and it paid off.  You 
can't get that kind of discipline from a Point Calculator, you know...that's 
very admirable."
     Dave smiled.  "Thanks.  That means a lot coming from you."
     She nodded.  Then, she was quiet for a moment.  "Reinquest...do you know 
why we allow ourselves to die?"
     Dave shook his head.  "No.  I've always pondered that." he smiled.  "I 
mean, on my own level.  I am aware of all the theological and metaphysical 
aspects, but no matter how advanced we get, death seems to be the great 
equalizer."
     She nodded.  "I'm going to tell you why."
     His eyes widened.
     "Because everything in this universe is balanced." she said, clearing her 
throat.  "Matter, Antimatter...Time, Antitime.  Life, Death...it's all about 
making sure nothing gets a clear, distinguishing advantage over the next.  There 
is quite possibly an 'Anti-human-race' out there ready to destroy Earth...and I 
think you know this."
     Dave nodded. 
     "But it goes both ways.  With every bit of darkness, there's also light." 
she continued.  "I may be dying, but that means there will be a new 
Superintendent, a shuffling of ranks, and perhaps a few new members joining." 
she smiled.  "And I've chosen you."
     Dave blinked.  "What?"
     "When I'm gone, you will become the Superintendent of the Omega Web."
     Dave was stunned.  "No...you can't choose me!  I can't take over the Web!"
     "Why not?" she asked, placing a hand on his knee.  "You have leadership 
qualities, you show understanding in your mission and our technology, and best 
of all, you are level-headed but you certainly aren't afraid to kick ass when 
the time comes." she said in an excited tone.  "Plus who can wear a lab-coat 
like you can?" she smiled.  "You've made it a fashion statement around here."
     "You're serious, aren't you?" he said, a smile returning to his lips.  
"Thank you...this is an honour beyond..."
     "Bullshit." she interrupted.  "This is a massive responsibility, and if you 
screw up, the Earth could pay the price.  You don't get much recognition for 
your work, and there will be times when you feel like handing the position to 
someone else and going somewhere secluded to die like I'm doing." she sighed.  
"But, you're the best chance we all have of making it to the next level, and I 
know, deep down in my heart, that you'll succeed." she sighed.  "And like me, 
you will have to stop thinking with only your own mind...and accept everyone 
else's.  Until the day YOU are four-hundred and ninety-seven and are seated in 
this chair."
     Dave lowered his head after considering her words.  "I accept." he stood.  
"And I won't let you down."
     The Superintendent nodded.  "I know you wont."

     Dave left the Superintendent's quarters later on that afternoon.  Outside, 
one of his friends, Jhonen, was waiting for him.  "You're late for lunch." he 
sighed.  "You'd think a human with an IQ in upper-quad-digits would remember 
something like that."
     Dave raised an eyebrow.  "Hey, don't give me any lip, Jhonen." he smiled 
"I'm your new superior."
     "In that case," he joked, "Which cheek do you prefer for ass-kissing?"
     Dave shook his head and walked off.  "No wonder the Earth's in so much 
shit."
     "I try!" Jhonen called after.  Then to himself, "I know you'll do great, 
kid."








     The situation was desperate...time seemed to speeding up, leaving less of a 
chance to get past the horrible crisis the almighty Sailor Moon was facing.  She 
couldn't even transform!  Not in front of so many people!  It was useless!  
Unless...yes!  MELVIN!  He held the answers!  Her last chance lay in the nerdy, 
spiky-haired guy next to her.
     Carefully, slowly, she strained her neck to it's limit.  Melvin was too far 
away!  Arrgh!  No!  WAIT!  Maybe...there was still a chance...if she could just 
make out the last...

     "SERENA!!!!  ARE YOU COPYING OFF OF MELVIN?!?!!!" Miss Haruna bellowed at
the top of her lungs.

     Serena's head sprung back instantly to face forward.  "U-u-u...No!  Of 
course not!"
     Everyone in the classroom was now looking at her.  The heat of their gazes 
seemed enough to melt lead.  The infamous teacher stormed up to Serena's desk.  
"Do I have to remind you that you are taking a TEST???  YOU were CHEATING!!" 

     Serena's eyes filled with tears.

     "Oh god...I don't need this right now..." Haruna sighed as the blonde 
meatball-headed girl began to cry.
     "I never meant to....WAAAAAAAAA!" Serena wailed at the top of her lungs.  A 
few of the surrounding students were hit with airborne tears.  Everyone else was 
laughing.






     "Grrrr, the humiliation is too much to bare!" Serena growled to her self, 
talking in her 'princess-mode'.  "This is no way to reward someone who saved the 
galaxy!"
     "SERENA!  Keep it down!" Haruna growled from her desk.  "I have to do some 
marking, and unless you want to stay for a few EXTRA hours in detention, then I 
suggest you stay quiet!"
     Serena obeyed.  High-school seemed exactly the same to her.  Everyone was 
either no fun, or too strict and bossy.  Luckily, despite her previous work 
habits, and a bit of help from Ami, she was passing all her subjects and had 
done good on mid-year exams.  Another spring break started in two days, and she 
planned to make the most of it.  
     "I wonder what the others are doing." she sighed.






     Mina sat in her own classroom down the hall.  She too was stuck in 
detention. She had missed half the class due to Artemis sleeping on the alarm 
clock again and muffling her wake-up call.  Luckily, though, she was on better 
terms with her teacher than Serena was, and the man had left for a moment, 
trusting her to look after the classroom while he was gone.  
     As soon as he left, she got a mischievous look in her eyes. "Now now, 
class." she smiled, getting up from her desk.  "Settle down.  Today, we'll be 
taking up the next chapter in your text books."
     She sat down in the teacher's chair and spun it around once for fun.  "Ah, 
now I know WHY it takes so long to be a teacher...they don't just give these 
chairs to ANYONE!" she laughed.  "You gotta EARN the ones that swivel!"
     Her heart almost leapt out of her chest as someone walked in.  At first she 
thought it was the teacher returning, and was about to get up to apologize.  It 
turned out to be one of her classmates.  
     "Oh...Hi." he stuttered.  "I'm sorry, I was looking for Mr Tamayoshi."
     Mina shrugged.  "Uh, he stepped out for a moment...I'm just here on 
detention, actually." she smiled.
     "Oh." he smiled back.  
     Mina frowned.  "You look nervous...uh..."
     "Chikara." he smiled.  "You can call me "Ckay, though.  Easier to 
pronounce."
     "Oh, that's right," Mina nodded.  "You sit a row down from me in a few 
classes." she sat down on a nearby desk.  "Anyway, like I said, you look 
nervous, Ckay, anything I  can do for you?"
     "Actually, I was wondering what Mr Tamayoshi assigned for homework today, 
but I can always catch up later...thanks." he said, about to leave.  
     Mina nodded.  "Okay, see ya around sometimes."
     He left.  
     "Mmm, nice guy...a little weird, but nice." Mina sighed.  


















                                    Chapter 2









     The girls sat around their now-official "Study Table" at the temple.  All 
except Ami.  She had been held up in the line to get the results of mid-terms.  
"That girl should learn to relax." Lita sighed, taking a sip of tea.
     "Oh, she will...remember, Spring Break's coming up, so we'll all have some 
time." Rei sighed.  
     Artemis sighed also.  "Not with OUR track-record.  Last time there was a 
spring break, you all got sick, Mina blew up Rei's stereo, and later on that 
week, Death attacked Rini's mind through a dream from the future...not exactly 
what I called relaxing."
     Luna coughed.  "Really?  If I remember correctly, you were sleeping most of 
that week."
     "I handle stress well...so what?" Artemis shrugged.
     "Yes, and remember that Christmas vacation?" Rei said.  "That's when that 
stupid snow-queen and her snow-dancers tried to freeze Earth."
     Lita frowned.  "Please don't remind me...I hated their stupid giggles."

     Suddenly, there was a knocking at the door.  

     Rei sighed.  "It's nine...who'd be knocking on a temple door at this hour?"
     "Aw, just let them go away." Lita said.
     "EXCUSE ME!!!" an annoying voice called from outside.  "ANYONE HOME??"
     The girls all frowned.  Artemis suddenly had a grin on his face.  Luna 
frowned at him. "What's so funny?"
     "You'll see." the white cat replied.
     "HELLLOOOOO!?!  This is the National Society to Legalize Beaver-Races!" the 
voice rang out through the temple.
     "What???" Rei growled.  "What kind of stupid, fucked up..." she got to her 
feet.  "Beaver Racing??"
     "Since you're not home, I'll just help myself to some furniture for a 
donation!!!" the voice continued.  The sound of the front-door opening was next.
     Rei's eyes sprung wide open.  "I'm gonna kill the bastard!" she ran down 
the hallway.
     A second later, they heard Rei.  "Wha??  You bastard!" she giggled.  Then, 
they heard a loud THUMP!
     "What the hell?" Mina and Lita got to their feet and peered out into the 
hallway.
     Rei was laying on top of Chris, planting a very wet kiss oh his lips to his 
delight. "Chris??" the two echoed.
     Rei looked up.  "My Chris..." she smiled and kissed him again.  
     Everyone got to their feet to greet their friend.
     Rei had probably the biggest smile on her face the group had ever seen.  
"Wow!  What brings you here!  Shit!  You should have called first!"
     "Now what fun would that be?" Chris said happily.  "Say...where's Ami and 
Darien?" he gasped.  "They weren't...I mean, that Galaxia bitch..."
     Serena raised her eyebrow.  "How'd you know about that?"
     "She attacked me and Maury a month ago, but I guess Maury scared her off.  
She said she'd be back after getting the other Scouts on the planet.  I tried to 
get in contact with you guys, but I couldn't." Chris explained.
     Rei shook her head.  "We were all killed, actually.  Luckily, Serena 
managed to bring us all back."
     Chris breathed a sigh of relief.  "I knew you guys would get her, but I 
wasn't too sure if all of you survived.  I knew she attacked Darien's plane 
right after she attacked us..."
     Mina smiled.  "Oh, Darien's fine too.  Ami's at school right now, though.  
The rest of us are just enjoying the evening."
     "Where's Maury?" Lita asked eagerly.
     "Where's Andrea?" Serena asked.  "Now that I know Darien likes me for 
absolutely sure, I don't have to worry about her!" she smiled.
     "Oh, Hooze and Maury are coming on the next flight." he turned to Rei.  
"I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner."
     Rei shrugged.  "That's okay." she gave him a tight hug.  She had been 
worried when he didn't call during the final days, but that seemed like an 
eternity ago, and just the feeling of her arms around him was enough to make 
everything in the universe seem perfect.  "God I missed you..." she sighed 
deeply.
     "I was going to wait till later and sneak into your room to surprise you," 
Chris said "but that seemed so informal."
     "Oh and ranting about being from the Beaver Racing society is formal?" Rei 
laughed, ruffling up his hair. 
     Suddenly, Ami came in with a ghostly face.
     Everyone noticed this and were silent as she walked into the study and sat 
down on the table...something she never did.  "Ami?" Serena asked quietly.  
"What is it?"
     "I don't believe it..." Ami said quietly.
     "What??" Mina asked.  
     "Someone beat me on the mid-terms!" Ami gasped.
     Everyone almost fell over.  "THAT'S IT?" Luna gasped. 
     Artemis nodded.  "Geeze I thought one of your parents had a heart attack or 
something by the look on your face!"
     Serena smiled.  "Oh, it's probably that Mercurius guy.  I bet it's 
nothing."
     "No!  It wasn't!" Ami gasped.  "Someone who's nickname is 'C.K.' or 
something like that.  He got a perfect score in EVERYTHING!"
     Mina frowned.  "C.K.?  That might be someone I know..." she laughed.  "But 
he's hardly the kind of person that strikes me as brilliant."
     "Well, I don't wanna brag, but I got a ninety eight point six average, and 
you never considered me much of a...." Chris chimed in.
     Ami shot him a glare.  
     "Sorry." Chris smiled.
     Ami's eyes widened.  "Chris???  When did you get here??"
     This time, everyone DID fall over.  
     "Ami, what was your mark?" Mina asked.
     "Well..." Ami said.  "I have a perfect also, but he finished all his tests 
in record-time and got bonus marks."
     "Ooh, I wish I had that problem." Mina laughed. 
     Ami frowned and went up to her.  "You said you knew him?? Show me to him 
later tomorrow!  I must see for my self!"
     "I see little has changed." Chris smiled towards Rei.
     "Oh, sure it has...Ami just gets a little paranoid around exam-time.  
Spring Break usually fixes her right up." Rei replied.  "How long can you stay?"
     Chris smiled.  "All week if you want."
     Rei hummed.  "Oh, I dunno...only a week?" she smiled seductively.  "Is that 
going to be enough time to 'catch up' on things?"
     "Not if you want me to be alive by Friday." Chris said, backing up a 
little.  
     Rei just smiled.
     "Oh oh..." Chris swallowed hard.  "Well, if ya gotta go, then this is 
probably the best way!"
     Ami continued.  "I don't get it, though...I was doing great that day, yet 
this 'C.K.' guy finished in half the time!"
     Rei coughed.  "I'm sure it's nothing.  Now leave."
     Everyone looked at Rei funny.
     "What?" she giggled.  "Can't a girl have some time alone with her man?"
     Luna rolled back her eyes.  "Come on, Serena."
     The Scouts all shuffled out, leaving Chris and Rei alone.  Chris smiled and 
sat down. "So...what ended up happening?"
     Rei sat down with Chris and put her arm around him.  "I'll tell you in the 
morning..." she launched herself onto him, smashing the light switch with her 
foot. 







     "Mina, Mina, Mina..." the figure said to himself, typing at a computer in 
his room.  "I can't get you out of my mind." he smiled.  
     It was Chikara.  He had hacked into the city's record-office, and was 
finding out everything there was to know about her.  "So simple..." he sighed, 
literally guessing the passwords by a reverse data string he plotted in his 
mind.  "How come everything so simple?"
     He wasn't really prepared for an answer.  "You should already know the 
answer."
     Ckay turned around.  "Let me guess..."
     A woman in a light gray jumpsuit stood behind.  "Welcome to the Omega Web."
     A wave of energy shot through Ckay's brain, causing him to jump out of his 
seat.  He fell onto the floor in a painful fit of seizures.
     An eternity passed in just a few seconds.  Suddenly, all at once, 
everything was bigger.  Each one of his thoughts became a universe... 
possibilities jumped around, connecting each of them.  The universes melded back 
into one mind.  Slowly, it became HIS mind.  The universes became filled with 
it, giving his mind power.  Soon, it was over...and he had not only seen, but
grabbed onto and brought back a bit of the future into his head.
     "Don't worry...it passes." the woman said happily.
     "I know." he said between shakes.  "I know everything now..."

















                                   Chapter 3









     Mina sat down in her seat with a sigh.  She really didn't feel like school 
today...Chris had come back, and she was interested to know how they fared 
against Galaxia.  However, it was the last day, so she took a deep breath, and 
was determined to stomach it. 
     The rest of the class filtered in as the bell rang...curiously enough, 
everyone except Ckay was present.  
     The teacher walked in.  A bright fellow...about sixty years old, with wild 
gray hair.  Everyone said he looked like a Japanese Einstein, and while he 
wasn't nearly as smart, he always tried his best.  "Good morning class!" he said 
cheerfully.
     The class nodded their own greeting.  "Good morning, Mr Foo." they sighed.
     "Are we all ready for Spring Break?" he smiled.
     The response was a bit more enthusiastic.  
     "Anyway, I'm not going to give you any homework today.  Rather do some 
discussions with you."
     Mina sighed and began to get previous homework finished.  When Mr Foo got 
started explaining the universe, he usually didn't stop for the rest of the 
class.  
     He started scribbling an equation on the chalk board.  "Hey...Mina!" a girl 
behind her whispered. 
     Mina turned.  "Yeah, Carrie?"
     "Have you seen that new guy around?  It's not like him to miss a class."
     Mina blinked.  "Oh, Ckay?  I dunno."
     "Ah!  That's his name!  I've been trying to get it for the last week or 
so." Carrie sighed.  
     Mina giggled.  "Oh?  You looking for a new boyfriend?"
     Carrie nodded.  "Yeah, too bad, though.  He was kinda cute."
     "Too bad about what?  I thought he wasn't going out with anyone." Mina 
shrugged.
     Carrie blinked.  "Don't you know??"
     "What?"
     "He's been pining over you ever since he saw you!" Carrie giggled.  "It's 
not common knowledge, but a few people have seen him tailing you around and 
stuff." she sighed.  "It's kinda cute, really."
     Mina shook her head with a laugh.  "More like creepy.  I've only talked to 
him yesterday.  He wasn't exactly my type."
     "Oh, don't be silly." Carrie giggled.  "You're single too...aren't you just 
a BIT interested?"
     Mina sighed.  "You're wrong...I'm already taken." she smiled.  "My cat 
needs all the help it can get.  Forgets to breathe sometimes.  I have to look 
after him."
     "Well, if you're not going to go after him, can I have him?" Carrie asked.
     "Go right ahead." Mina shrugged, returning her attention to the front.
     Mr Foo had finished jotting down a large, double-blackboard equation.  
"Now, class.  Can anyone tell me what this means?"
     "Sorry, sir.  We're not related to Stephen Hawkings." one student said.  A 
few others laughed at the lame joke.
     "Well." Foo raised an eyebrow.  "This particular equations combines both a 
hypothetical equation for a wormhole, and the theory of relativity to prove  
that a wormhole will collapse as soon as it forms, making it a virtual 
particle."
     The class was wide-eyed.
     "You'll learn more about this if you get into quantum physics.  Because 
this equation cannot be solved, we see that time is equal to an undefined number 
which doesn't exist."
     Mina rolled back her eyes.  
     "Now, I will let whoever tells me why go home early." he smiled.  "Sound 
good?  Turn to your textbooks on page..."
     The sound of chalk on the board interrupted him.  Foo turned to see Chikara 
writing on the equation.
     "Hey!  Wait a minute Mr Ckay, don't start messing that up..." he started, 
but was cut off.
     Ckay was writing an answer.  The boy was in yesterday's clothing still, 
hair messed up, and he had a grin on his face as he wrote.  "I'm not messing it 
up, Foo, I'm rewriting it to make it work.  You copied it down wrong."
     "Chikara!  How do you know this level of quantum physics?" Foo demanded.
     "This stuff?" Ckay laughed.  He had put down the answer.  "This is child's 
play.  Elementary crap about the universe.  Laws of Physics are hardly worth the 
time it takes to ponder.  Required half a second to think what you did wrong."
     Foo looked at the answer.  It looked correct.  "Oh my..."
     The class was now gazing intently on Ckay.  Ckay jumped up onto the 
teacher's desk to everyone's surprise.  "My fellow classmates...I am sorry, but 
I forgot how pitifully stupid you all were.  Don't believe this old man.  He's 
only repeating what he vaguely remembers from old university textbooks."
     Mina frowned.  "What the hell is with him?"
     Carrie shrugged.  "Mmmm, you were right...too creepy."
     "Ya think?" Mina turned to her friend and frowned.
     "Ah!" Ckay continued, jumping down off the desk with a dusty thud. "Mina!  
Forgive me.  My mind's still sorting out the clutter of the universe.  I 
forgot...you're far from pitifully stupid."
     Mina shrugged.  "Uh...thanks...I guess."
     Ckay bowed slightly as he walked up to her.  "You're the only one among 
these people who really thinks for herself." he smiled.  "An admirable trait for 
a human, and it will bring you nothing but sorrow from these other dullards."
     Mina's eyes shot wide open. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
     He smiled and gazed into her eyes.  "Even from a lofty standpoint, you're 
eyes are the most beautiful in the world." he stood closer and whispered to her.  
"Sailor Venus."
     "HUMmPP!" Mina almost gagged on her own tongue.  
     "Now now..." Ckay returned to his standing position.  "I'll talk to you 
later.  This has probably caused enough excitement already." he walked over to 
the window.  "Goodbye, humans...goodbye, Mina." he smiled...

     then jumped out the window.

     Everyone rushed over to see if he was hurt, but he was gone.
     Mina gasped.  "He knows??"
     Carrie smiled. "Ooh!  What did he whisper to you?"
     Mina ran out of the classroom.
     Mr Foo sighed and cleaned his glasses with the corner of his shirt.  "That 
boy needs some hall time with buckets of water, I think."    









     Ckay hadn't disappeared by choice.  He had materialized in one of the Omega 
Web's office buildings.  "Huh?"

     Dave Reinquest stood over him.  "What in the hell were you trying to 
prove?"
     Ckay looked up to the man and stood himself.  "What do you mean?  I was 
just saying goodbye to some old associates." he replied.
     Dave's eyebrows lowered.  "No...what you did was post a big sign on the 
chalkboard that says 'Ooh!  Look at me!  I'm from the Omega Web and you aren't!  
La la la!  Aren't I freaking smart!  You all are stupid.  WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"

     Ckay frowned as Dave acted out some exaggerated body language to go with 
the words. 

     "Oh come on...I was just having a little fun."
     "No." Dave growled.  "You were not just having fun...you were being a 
complete and utter asshole."
     Ckay took a step backwards.  "You're kidding, right?"
     Dave continued.  "First of all...what the hell was that line at the end?  
'Goodbye, humans...' and all that shit?"
     "I was simply saying..."
     "You think you're better than they are?" Dave growled.  "You think they're 
'just' humans and you're somehow above them?"
     Ckay paused to consider a response.  "Well, quite frankly, yes."
     Dave smiled.  "Well, mister super-god-like-being...I'd like to remind you 
that you were one of them seven hours, three minutes, and fifty seconds ago."
     "So what?" Ckay shrugged.  "You of all people should know we're not humans 
anyone.  We've evolved." he sighed.  "You attitude is surprisingly like one of 
theirs.  Are you sure you're an Omega Web member?" he leaned into the word 
'sure'.
     Dave leaned against the far wall.  "I'll have to remind you that I'm your 
superior officer.  While we are not above the rest of the population, you can be 
damn well assured I am above you.  I run this show.  Got it?  What I say goes, 
and if you don't like it, I have the authority and power to take your evolution 
away from you."
     Ckay sighed.  "Fine...I promise to exercise more restraint in the 
future...Dave."
     Dave smiled slightly.  It was far from a happy smile.  "Good.  Now, I may 
as well tell you right now before you screw up again.  Here are our rules.  
Number one.  Non interference."
     "What?"
     "We do nothing unless we have run out of options." Dave continued.  "Rule 
number two is that we cover our tracks." he shrugged.  "Not always easy, but 
it's still the easiest part of our jobs."
     "And number three?" Ckay sighed.
     "Everything we do is to help protect humanity until the Omega Point." Dave 
said.  "It is the reason this organization exists, and what your new goal in 
life is."
     Ckay nodded reluctantly.
     "So far, there have been only a few to make it to this point.  We're the 
scouts who make sure it's okay.  Now, sooner or later, the rest of the Earth 
will join us.  THAT'S why we protect them.  They're us, and we are them..." Dave 
sighed, knowing full well Ckay knew this already...still, he thought it was 
important.  "we're just a little ahead of our time.  Is that clear?" 
     "Fully understood." Ckay said and nodded.
     Dave nodded back.  "Oh, and an unofficial rule in the Web is that we try to 
get along.  I won't hassle you anymore if you try your best to abide by the 
rules.  Okay?"
     They shook hands and Dave left the room.  "This is your new office.  Enjoy.  
Decorate it any way you want, music is not a problem since the walls are 
soundproof, and you can replicate anything else you need from the store 
downstairs.  If you need a bigger office, just ask." he called out from the 
hallway as the door materialized shut.
     Ckay sighed and looked around.  "No...this is fine for now."  Quietly, he 
sat down on the chair provided.  "For now..." he smiled.


















                                    Chapter 4










     "Oh god I missed you." Rei sighed, sprawled out over her bed, legs on top 
of Chris' chest.  
     Chris nodded in agreement.  "Wow."
     Rei smiled and rolled back onto him.  "Why, thank you.  You're not bad 
yourself.  Which is probably why I've saved myself over these last two years for 
you."
     Chris smiled.  "Really?  I mean, I did too, but I thought you'd find 
someone else during all this time."     
     "Well, I can't say it was easy..." Rei sighed.  "But it was important."
     "Oh?  Not easy?" Chris frowned.
     Rei smiled back.  "Well, a lot's happened.  A met a few old friends, a few 
new ones...I can't say it would have been horrible if we got together."
     "Mmm," Chris smiled, giving her a kiss.  "In that case, just tell me about 
the other stuff you've been up to this last while."
     Sunlight was now pouring in the window.  Rei glanced over at the clock.  
"Damn.  Two in the afternoon?"
     "Too early." Chris smiled, sitting up as Rei rolled off him to get dressed.  
"Well, I hope I didn't come at a bad time.  I can always stay somewhere else if 
there's no room here...plus I don't know if Grandpa will bee too welcoming if 
I'm not providing free slave labour for him."
     Rei smiled.  "So who says you won't be?"
     "Yeah yeah..." Chris smiled.  "I'll help out."
     Rei slipped into her robe and sat back down on the bed to put on her 
sandals.  "Well, at least I've been getting good vibes about your visit, so we 
will finally have some time to relax." she said.
     Chris sat behind her and began to rub her shoulders.  "Sounds perfect." he 
whispered into her ear.  "Let's see...how shall we spend this lovely afternoon?"
     Rei sighed as he rubbed her neck.  "Mmm, this is a good start."
     "Well, I was thinking we could go over to Tiko concert in the gardens later 
on this evening if you want." Chris suggested. 
     Rei just smiled and nodded as he began to kiss her neck.  "No fair...I'll 
agree to just about anything in this state."
     "Really?" Chris smiled.  "You wanna go see a live action 'Power Rangers' 
concert and assassinate them with a potato-cannon?"
     "I said ALMOST anything." she giggled.  "Tiko would be lovely."
     "Wow," Chris said massaging her back.  "I don't believe this.  We actually 
get to plan an evening together."
     "I could get used to it." Rei moaned softly.  
     A knock came from the door.  "Rei?  Are you up yet?  You missed school 
today!" Grandpa called angrily.
     Chris and Rei gasped.  "Damn!  Where's you clothes?" Rei asked.
     Chris looked around desperately.  "You threw them out the window last 
night!"
     "Oh...oops..." Rei smiled.
     Grandpa flung open the door.  "Who are you talking to?" he asked angrily.  
     His normally squinting eyes were wide.  "Chris??  When the hell did you get 
here?"
     Chris was covered loosely with Rei's sheets, hands on her shoulders.  Her 
robe was on very loosely, and was open a generous amount at the front thanks to 
Chris' neck rub.  The two teenagers just blinked, unable to think of what to 
say.
     Grandpa smiled nervously and shut the door behind him.  "Uh, sorry...uhm... 
uh...just come out when you're ready, you two."
     Rei let loose the breath she had been holding.  "Well, that went better 
than I expected."
     Chris nodded, slunk over to the window with a sheet around his waist, and 
retrieved his pants.  "And THAT'S why door-locks were invented."
     Rei looked down at her chest and quickly tightened up her front.  "I'll go 
make sure he isn't having a heart attack." she sighed, going out the door.
     Grandpa was across the hall.  "Well, I can't say I'm surprised." he sighed.  
     Rei smiled.  "Well, I do love the guy...I guess I can't hide something like 
that from you." her face turned serious.  "You're not mad, are you?" she 
coughed.  "We've taken every precaution...we didn't just leap into this, you 
know."
     Grandpa relaxed noticeably at this news.  "I guess I'm not mad...I have to 
realize how quickly you've grown up, I guess."
     Rei smiled and gave him a big hug.  "Thanks, Grandpa."
     He coughed and nodded.  "Uh, just please...I'd like some way to know when 
you two are...uh...well..."
     Rei sighed.  "I'll get a lock or something."
     Grandpa smiled.  "Well, now that's straight, I better go."
     Rei nodded. 
     "Besides, I knew long ago."
     Rei's eyes jumped.  "What?"
     "You're not the only one who can read fire, missy!" he laughed and walked 
off.  "Don't worry, I wasn't watching during the good parts."
     "YOU BETTER HAVE NOT BEEN!  You horny old..." Rei growled.  "Growing up 
with a head Shinto Priest is not as fun as it sounds." she sighed.
     Chris poked his head out the door.  "Everything okay?"
     "Yeah, come on. " Rei smiled.  "Let's get some lunch."
     







     Mina sat alone in a nearby park, unsure of what to do next.  Why had this 
Ckay guy gone completely wacko, and just as suddenly, seemed to have a huge 
crush on her?
     True, Carrie had said Ckay was interested in her long before, but why did 
he suddenly flip out like that?  
     And how the hell did he get so smart?  Ami wouldn't have even been able to 
solve the kind of question Mr Foo had put up, let alone know enough about it to 
correct it's mistakes.  "Is this seat taken?" a familiar voice asked.

     She looked up from her seat to see a man in a flowing white lab-coat.  
"You!"

     "Yes.  We've met before." Dave sat down.  "Ever so briefly, I'm afraid."
     Mina smiled.  "Wow!  You're that guy from the...uhm...it was the Omega 
Group or something, wasn't it?"
     "Omega Web." Dave nodded.  "And the name's Dave." they shook hands.
     "I forgot to thank you for helping us out back when the Lords attacked." 
Mina said. "Thank you."
     Dave smiled.  "It was my pleasure.  You guys needed a boost, and it wasn't 
too big of a breach of our protocols, so I helped out a bit."
     "We're alive thanks to you." Mina said.  "Though you could have helped out 
when that Galaxia woman came."
     "You handled it all by yourself." Dave smiled.  "But anyway, I'm not here 
to discuss old times."
     "Oh?"
     "I trust you're quite puzzled by Chikara's behaviour today."
     Mina nodded, then slowly came to her own conclusion.  "He's one of you, 
isn't he?"
     "He just joined last night." Dave sighed.  "I'll have to apologize.  He 
wasn't quite ready for his new powers and responsibilities, and got carried away 
for a while there." he sighed again. "Hopefully, he's levelled off.  We gained 
three new members last night, and the others seem okay...it's probably just 
him."
     Mina nodded.  "I understand, but why are you telling me this?"
     "I just wanted to warn you about Ckay.  If you see him again, he won't be 
exactly harmless.  Plus, he does know pretty much everything about you, so just 
be careful around him.  Don't let him suddenly start saying you're Sailor Venus 
in front of a crowd or something."
     "I appreciate the tip." Mina said.  "But I thought you only interfered when 
necessary."
     Dave smiled.  "Ah, touche'.  You know more than I give you credit for." he 
nodded.  "I have a bad feeling about him.  His ethics and morals don't seem to 
be intact in his new mind.  He gained the power...but not all of the restraint.  
I'm warning you.  I'm also asking for you to contact me if you see him causing 
any trouble, or if he starts harassing you."
     Mina nodded.  "Okay, fine. How do I contact you?"
     Dave reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a business 
card.  "Press the blue square for two seconds.  The centre will open up to form 
what looks like a camera lens.  You can talk to me through that.  The yellow 
spot will show a projection of me on the other end."
     Mina accepted the card.  "Wow!  Now that's fancy."
     Dave smiled.  "Last year, they were twice as big, and didn't have 
holographic projection.  Even us Omega Web guys have research and development."
     Dave stood.  "Uhm..." Mina said suddenly. "Well, thanks again."
     Dave smiled.  "No problem.  You keep out of trouble.  I can only predict so 
far into the future."
     Mina waved.  Dave kept walking, then disappeared in a shower of light.  It 
fell to the ground like sand, then flew off into the sky.  She couldn't help but 
giggle.  "Wicked cool or what!?!"


















                                  Chapter 5








     Ami relaxed noticeably when she heard the news.  "Well, at least if I had 
to lose, it was to an Omega Web person."
     Mina nodded.  "See? Nothing to worry about."
     They had all gathered around the infamous 'Study-Table'.  Chris was on his 
laptop.  "So basically, you're just supposed to report in if this wacky-O.W. guy 
tries anything...wacky?"
     "Uh, yes." Mina smiled.  "Otherwise, nothing is happening in 'Scout-
Business'."
     The Scouts all breathed a sigh of relief.  "Well, it's Spring Break." Rei 
sighed.  "I say we all go somewhere and party down for a night or two."
     Lita frowned.  "When was Maury coming again?"
     Chris smiled.  "Next flight.  He's over the ocean right now.  Don't worry, 
you'll see him by morning."
     Lita smiled.  "Okay.  I can wait a few more hours."
     Rei looked over to Chris.  "Well, speaking of a few hours, we're going to 
go down to the gardens for the evening.  You guys are welcome to stay here while 
we're out, though."
     Chris smiled.  "Party on."
     Serena sighed.  "Well, I'll probably go over to Darien's apartment.  
Nothing exiting like going to a concert, though."
     Lita smiled.  "Don't mind her, Rei.  She's just mad that she can't show off 
Darien anymore and make you insanely jealous."
     Ami patted Rei on the back.  "You're lucky, Rei.  Make sure you treat him 
right, or I'll be right back on your case." she smiled.
     Rei nodded.  "Don't worry, Ami.  I'm perfectly aware of the number of sharp 
objects you could get hold of."
     They both smiled.  Chris smiled too.  "Well, let's not get into this.  How 
about tomorrow, we all go for a concert or something.  Maury and Andrea will be 
here, and we can all have a reunion."
     Artemis grinned.  "Oooh!  Can we come too?"
     Luna coughed.  "Remember?  Tomorrow's your night to go squirrel-hunting?"
     Artemis slapped his head.  "Oh, right.  Dang."
     "Artemis catching anything?"  Mina smiled.  "Yeah right..." she was cut off 
when she realized everyone had stopped moving.

     "What the hell??"

     Everyone was frozen in time...Artemis was in mid-step, Lita, who had a 
glass of water, had it stuck in a swirl with her finger.  She looked around 
quickly.  Even the trees outside had stopped moving.  No wind?  
     "Hello, Mina." Ckay called out softly behind her.
     She almost jumped out of her skin.  "Ckay???  Did you do this?"
     "How nice of you to remember my name!" he beamed.  "Yes, I didn't want to 
interrupt your little conversation, so I brought you out of time for a moment." 
he paused. "Hope you don't mind."
     Mina looked around.  "Actually, yes, I do mind!  I'm not exactly accustomed 
to all time around me stopping!" she was about to reach for the card that Dave 
had given her, but realized it wasn't going to do her much good now.  
     Ckay frowned.  "Dave's visited you, hasn't he?" he sighed and walked around 
for a moment.  "Nice guy, but I do believe he has something against me.  I can 
feel some of his thought patterns have been near you."
     "He just stopped by to say 'hi'." Mina lied.  "He helped out the Scouts 
before."
     "Oh, yes." Ckay smiled.  "I suppose you're right.  He is a pretty friendly 
person if you're on his good side.  Just watch out, he might be spreading lies 
about me."
     Mina frowned.  "Oh?  He mentioned you, and just wanted to explain that you 
were weird this morning because you were adjusting to your, uh, new mind."
     Ckay smiled happily.  "Good!  I'd just hate for some lie about me to give 
you the wrong impression of who I am, that's all."
     She forced a fake smile.  Hopefully, these Omega-People couldn't read 
minds. "Impression?"
     "Well, Mina...I guess it's no secret that I find you attractive." Ckay 
said, blushing slightly.  "I just hoped that there could maybe be a relationship 
between us."
     Mina felt danger closing in.  It was common knowledge that a broken heart 
could make a person do nasty things...let alone someone with a super-brain.  
"Oh..."
     "Oh?"
     "Well, it's just that..." Mina's mind raced for something to say.  "If 
you're an Omega Web person, then I doubt we'd be too compatible."
     Ckay's face stayed at the exact same expression.  "Oh?"
     "I mean," Mina sighed.  "What fun am I going to be to go out with?  You 
probably think what I do for fun is frightfully dull and boring."
     Ckay frowned.  "I guess you have a point there." he pondered.
     "I'll tell you what." Mina smiled.  "I know the Omega Web doesn't like it's 
members interfering too much with society, but you're more than welcome to be my 
friend."    
     Ckay nodded.  "I suppose so."
     Mina nodded.  "Anytime you want to talk, or hang out or sometimes when you 
don't mind doing stupid things with a normal human, you could come by."
     "I guess you're right." he sighed.  "With this power comes new 
restrictions.  I guess love is hardly an advanced emotion...though it certainly 
isn't the lowest."
     Mina nodded.  "I'm glad you understand.  Friends?"
     Ckay nodded back.  "I guess I'll see you later." he said, not trying 
anymore to hide the disappointment in his voice.  "Goodbye." he said bluntly.  
In a second, he was gone.
     Time resumed itself.  Everyone glanced over to Mina, who in their eyes, had 
suddenly jumped to her feet and was standing a metre away from where she was.  
"Whoa!  What was that?" Lita jumped to her feet.
     Mina smiled.  "Looks like our minor problem has been averted, and we'll 
have an honest-to-goodness vacation for once!"
     






     Ckay sat in his office.  Mina had been correct.  Love was no longer a 
luxury he could afford.  At least not with a regular Human.  Pity, though, he 
thought.  She had the most intelligent eyes.



















                                    Chapter 6








     "Okay..." Dave sighed.  "First of all, you're saying Chaos isn't headed for 
a jump point anymore?"
     Jhonen nodded reluctantly.  "Sorry, Dave. I know you wanted to destroy it, 
but it looks like we'd have to divert some resources if we wanted it dead."
     Dave slumped in his command chair.  "So much for Chaos."
     Jhonen nodded.
     "However," Dave said, sitting up again, "how far is it away from that jump-
point?"
     "Uhm...only about twenty AU."
     Dave smiled.  "Then we can at least get a Point tag on it." he stood up, 
feeling the rush of command coming to him again.  "God, I love this job.  I want 
that bastard tagged and under tracking in an hour.  Okay?"
     Jhonen nodded.  "Okay people, you heard the man!" the command room jumped 
to life as the order was carried out.  A Point tag would warn the Omega Web if 
Sailor Chaos was going to return to the Solar System anytime in the near-
future...even if it was headed in the opposite direction and light-years away.  
At least the Web would be able to warn the Scouts if needed.  
     "Now, onto smaller business." Dave cleared his throat.  "Chikara!"
     Ckay materialized in front of Dave.  "You called?"
     Dave nodded, patting him on the shoulder.  "Hi there.  Just wanted to 
commend you on staying out of trouble the first day." he smiled.  "How do you 
like your office?"
     Ckay shrugged.  "I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do in the Web.  
What do we even need offices for?"
     Dave smiled.  "Side projects."
     "What?"
     "For instance, looking after the Sailor Scout is my side project." Dave 
explained. "You see, each of us takes a hundred or so smaller chunks of humanity 
and concentrates free time and energy to make sure each of them is going 
smoothly.  It would get inefficient if everyone had to look after the entire 
human race all at once." Dave said.  "A few of my other projects have been
the Test-ban-Treaty, and of course, Sailor Chaos...who is no longer much of a 
concern I'm happy to say."
     Ckay nodded.  "I see.  So basically we just take hobbies to the next 
level."
     "Exactly." Dave said happily.  "However, like you said, these are on the 
next level.  You have to try and make sure each of your projects gets 
observation.  If there's a problem that's big enough, and is along our 
jurisdiction, all you have to do is clear it with us and you can interfere
to a small extent.  While the Omega Web is, in itself, a group...each member 
takes on the responsibilities of a small army, government, and research 
department.  We specialize in things we enjoy, and usually, that covers most of 
the needed areas.  Anything undesirable, we share."
     "Okay...what 'hobbies' are mine, then?" Ckay asked.  
     "You can choose your own...if you wish." Dave replied.  "I think the Point 
Calculator needs someone new to look after it.  I'd be willing to let you have 
the job."
     "Point Calculator..." Ckay nodded.  "Sounds interesting...what does it do?"
     Dave walked over to an indentation in the room where a computer terminal 
and a large blue crystal sat.  "This is the Calculator.  What it does is predict 
possible futures." Dave said proudly.  "Probably the most important piece of 
equipment we use besides the actual computers that run it.  It takes Space-Time 
and warps it so we can see over the horizon that is normally our limit."
     Ckay walked over and sat at the console.  "I accept the responsibility." he 
said with a bit of enthusiasm.
     "It's not too accurate right now, and it can only predict about a week into 
the future...maximum.  Even at that range, though, the error is about ninety 
percent." Dave explained.  "Your assignment is to improve that as much as 
possible.  Even minute advancements would help."
     Jhonen looked edgy.  "Dave...can I talk to you for a moment?"
     Dave nodded.  "Well, Ckay, I'll leave this to you.  Also, if you want, you 
can set up a link to the Calculator in your office.  You okay?"
     Ckay nodded.  "Yes.  Thanks." he beamed.  "I'll go down to the store and 
see what they can't do for a linking system."
     Ckay disappeared in the trademark shower of sand-light and was gone.
     "What is it, Jhonen?" Dave said finally.
     "Do you think that new kid is trustworthy with the Calculator??" Jhonen 
asked quickly. "You said he may not be the most stable person in the world, and 
that's a pretty fucking powerful tool you just handed over to him."
     Dave nodded.  "I know...I know...but if we don't occupy his mind with a 
task, and teach him some responsibility, he'll just get worse."
     Jhonen frowned, clearly unsatisfied by Dave's reasons.
     "I know..." Dave repeated.  "Don't worry.  I'll pull the plug on him if 
there's any trouble...and I mean ANYTHING."
     Jhonen nodded.  "Please do."
     His buddy turned into a ball of light and flew out of the room.  Dave stood 
watching the main monitor of the sterile room.  The transition had been rocky, 
but he was confident the Omega Web was back to normal.
     







     Mina sat at home, bored out of her mind.
     Rei and Chris were out enjoying themselves at a Tiko concert somewhere 
downtown, Lita was pacing impatiently back and fourth at the temple, waiting for 
Maury's plane to come in, and Serena was probably checking out Darien's "long 
stem rose" at his apartment right now.  Even Artemis was out with Luna, probably 
teaching her how to hunt field mice.
 
    "Damn...I'm lonely." she sighed deeply.  

     Everyone else had someone to wait for, or some one to snuggle to, or even 
better.  At least that Ckay guy got the hint and had bugged off without causing 
trouble.  
     Though, she HAD seen him...and Dave DID ask her to report any of his 
activity just to be safe.  She smiled to herself, then reached into her shirt 
pocket.  Out slipped the card he had given her.  "Well, why not." she sighed, 
pressing the patch of blue on the top-right-hand corner of the card and holding 
it for two seconds.  In the centre of the card, a swirl appeared, then morphed 
into a crude lens.  A larger yellow patch of colour began to glow, and projected 
a three dimensional cube in the air in front of her.  
     Dave appeared in the cube.  "Hello?  Mina?"
     Mina smiled.  "Hi Dave!  How's it going?!?"
     Dave smiled back.  "Uhm...fine...but you're holding the card upside-down."
     Mina quickly flipped the card.  The cube resettled and looked clearer.  
"Oops...sorry."
     "No problem." Dave smiled.  "So, what's up?"
     "Well, nothing much, but Ckay did pay me a visit earlier on." Mina sighed.
     Dave nodded.  "Mmm, really...what did he say?"
     "The dandiest thing." Mina sighed.  "He stopped time to talk to me."
     Dave frowned.  "Really...mmm.  I'll have to talk to him about that."
     Mina shrugged.  "Otherwise, no big deal.  I convinced him that we should be 
'just friends' and he promised not to bug me too much."
     "Well, that's good." Dave replied.  "Well..."
     Mina coughed.  "I hope I'm not calling at a bad time or anything.  I 
thought you might enjoy someone to talk to." she beamed happily.
     Dave looked a bit surprised.  "Oh, not at all." his head floated in the 
cube for a moment. "Actually, I don't mind talking to you at all."
     Mina threw back her hair out of her face.  "I hope Ckay's not in too much 
trouble.  I think his heart's in the right place...he's just a little spooky, 
that's all."
     Dave nodded.  "I agree he has potential.  Usually, though, we refrain from 
using any external...uh...powers...unless it's on an assignment.  He didn't know 
this, so he's not in trouble."
     "Well," Mina sighed.  "I guess I should let you go...I don't want to take 
up too much of your time."
     Dave shook his head.  "Oh, not at all...call anytime you want." he smiled.  
"But I guess I should go...we're kinda busy."
     Mina nodded.  "Okay, then...goodbye."
     "See ya."
     The card shut off and morphed back to normal.  Mina sighed.  

     
     
















                                   Chapter 7
 









     Dave walked down the hallway to Ckay's office.  It had been a day or so 
since he'd heard from him, and curiosity had taken over.  He coughed, signalling 
the doorbell.  "Helllloooo...?"
     The door fizzled out a moment later, allowing him access inside.  "Come in, 
Dave." Ckay called from inside.
     It was dark, but right away, Dave saw that their newest member HAD been re-
decorating.  The room bore an uncanny resemblance to the control room of 
"Jurassic Park".  The Point-Calculator's remote unit sat in the centre of the 
room.  It was a bright white, hexagon-shaped tower that stretched to the roof.  
On the opposite side sat Ckay.  A holographic cube hovered in front of him, 
displaying readouts and controls for the Calculator.  "Hi, Dave.  Glad you could 
stop by!" he paused, pointing to the control unit.  "I knew you were stopping 
by." he smiled.
     "Ah!" Dave nodded.  "I see you've been getting the hang of the P.C.?"
     Ckay looked up from the controller.  "Yes, actually.  It's a really simple 
concept once you get how to read it's display."
     "I knew you'd like it." Dave nodded.  He looked around.  "Well, I should be 
going, I guess."
     Ckay nodded.  "Okay, come by any time, though."
     As Dave walked to the door, Ckay stood suddenly.  
     "Dave?"
     "Yes? Dave replied.
     "How was it that you got appointed leader of the Omega Web anyway?  I mean, 
you hardly seem as smart as you are, and..."
     Dave smiled.  "I don't know." he walked out.  "Maybe that's the point."
     The door materialized back to it's closed position.  Ckay sat back down at 
his desk.  "Or maybe, you don't belong as head of the Web." he raised an 
eyebrow, then turned to the Point-Calculator controller.  "New program." he 
ordered.
     A new "cube" materialized in front of him.  In small letters, it said 
"Ready."
     "Theoretical situation.  Enter in as new time line."
     Hundreds of lines of code flew across the screen.  "Enter parameters." the 
cube stated.
     Ckay smiled.  "List success rates of an inside take-over of the Omega Web."
     "Working...results ready in three minutes.  Do you wish to narrow your time 
line search?"
     "Yes.  The take over must gain support, lead by one individual, and must 
eventually lead to that individual gaining control." Ckay stated.  
     "Working..." the cube read.
     The cube expanded to fit the new information inside it's display.  It now 
branched off to about fifty thousand pages of text.  Ckay quickly read through 
the more likely time-lines.  "So..." he said to himself.  "I'd have more than a 
good chance...Calculator, please elaborate on this one possible time line." he 
said, pointing to the floating text.
     "The likelihood of this particular time line taking place is less than 
fifteen percent.  However, if support of three or more Omega Web members was 
gained, the possibility would jump to sixty percent.  With each additional 
supporter, another five percent.  Minus any outside interference." the computer 
said in a smooth, male voice.
     Ckay's grin widened.  "Close and erase program." as the controller shut 
off, he stood up.  "Well, I guess I should get started."







     "Moo.  Moo.  Moo.  Moo." Sure enough, the crowd around the Sailor Scouts 
thinned out to get away from the mooing teenager.  Chris smiled.  "Works every 
time."
     The Scouts had all gathered at the airport to greet Maury and Andrea.  They 
were quite a formidable team when gathered.  Serena sighed.  "When's their plane 
gonna get here?  I'm bored..."
     Lita shrugged.  "I hope it's soon."
     "Don't worry, you'll have more than enough time with Maury." Mina giggled.
     Haruka sighed.  "I really don't know why we came.  All he's going to say is 
'huh huh, maybe YOUR-anus...'"
     Michiru smiled.  "Oh come on, you're a tough girl.  You can take it."
     "I know...I know...but they do it EVERY time!" 
     "Oh, don't worry." Chris said.  "I'm sure in light of everything that's 
happened he won't remember."
     "FLIGHT THREE-THREE-TWO ARRIVING!" the airport's speaker system blared 
after saying the same thing in Japanese.
     "So, how was the Tiko concert last night?" Darien asked Chris.
     "Not too bad.  Though I still don't get why the guys who bang the drums 
wear diapers." Chris smiled.  "Kidding.  It was cool."
     "You know, I guess I should contact Harvard." Darien gasped.  "They were 
expecting me months ago."
     "That's the problem with super-villains." Artemis piped up at their feet.  
"They don't realize how important a good education is!"
     Maury and Andrea came jumping through the gate.  "Argh!" Maury yelled, 
popping his head up from the crowd once and a while.  "Lita!!!" 
     Lita giggled and waved.
     Maury caught sight of her and literally bowled over three people on route 
to get to her.  The two embraced in probably the tightest hug the group had ever 
seen.  Even Chris and Rei were wide-eyed.  "Two!  Two fractured ribs!  Ahh, 
ahh!!" Chris said, doing an impression of the "Count" off of Sesame Street.
     Rei gave him a strange look.
     Andrea came bounding through the crowd a few seconds later as Maury and 
Lita were doing a scene off of an old, corny Bogart movie.  
     "Aaaayyyyyy!  Fissy fissy fissssssy!" Andrea leapt at Chris.  "Yo' bro!"
     "Hey Hoozy!  Did you bug the stewards like I asked?" Chris smiled happily.
     Maury took a second away from his lip-lock with Lita.  "But of course!" he 
reached into his pockets and began to pull packs of honey-roasted peanuts out of 
them.  "Who wants peanuts?"
     "Are those peanuts in your pockets, or are you just happy to see me?" Lita 
chided with a grin.
     Ami looked sick.  "Ugh...no.  Put those away."
     "What's with her?" Haruka asked.
     "She's still sore that she lost our little bet the year we met." Chris 
said.  "She now despises all pre-packaged peanuts."
     "I don't wanna know." Haruka sighed.  "So, are we just going to stand here 
acting out corny movie scenes, or shall we go?"
     The group nodded.  "Okay people," Serena said happily.  "Who wants to go 
out for some FOOOOOOD!?!"
     Everyone cheered enthusiastically.   Except Darien.  "Oh oh..."
     Serena grinned and latched on to her man.  "Muffin...your treat??"
     "Yeah yeah..." Darien sighed.  
     Mina watched the other Scouts walk off to the exits.  Most of them in 
couples.  She didn't notice Artemis standing at her feet.  "What's wrong, Mina?" 
he said suddenly, knowing nobody would care who said it.
     Mina looked down to the cat.  "Come on you..." she grinned, picking him up 
and letting him snuggle into her arms.  "Don't you wanna go off somewhere with 
Luna?"
     The two passed out the exit.  Artemis was now free to talk.  "I know that 
look, Mina..."
     "What look?" Mina asked innocently, trying to blank her face.
     "You have it every time one of the others gets a boyfriend." Artemis 
replied quietly as they passed by some business men.  "You're jealous."
     Mina looked down at her furry companion.  "I am not."
     Artemis shrugged.  "Fine...be that way." he smiled.  "But trust me when I 
say it will work out in the end."
     Mina sighed and let him hop down to the ground.  "Easy for you to say..."  
She told him as he walked on ahead to find Luna.  Then, privately, she added: 

     "...you're not in love with someone from the Omega Web."
     


















                                  Chapter 8









     Jhonen walked into the control room, a set of crystals in his hand.  
Somehow, he wasn't really surprised when he saw Ckay hovering over the Point 
Calculator.  "Well...if it isn't Ckay..."
     Ckay turned quickly.  "Oh...Jhonen...how's it going?"
     Jhonen sighed.  "Ckay, what are you doing?"
     "I was just making sure my link with the P.C. was optimized." Ckay said 
smoothly. "Why you here?"
     Jhonen sat down in an adjacent chair.  "Oh, just coming up to replicate 
some paper when I found you in here." he frowned.  
     "Paper?" Ckay laughed.  "Oh come on..."
     "I write a comic." Jhonen explained.  "We may be part of the Omega Web, but 
that doesn't mean we can't have lives."
     To Jhonen's surprise, Ckay laughed.  "Why are you all so instant to be 
human?"
     "Oh?  How so?"
     "You've been hanging around with your little 'visionary-buddy', Dave, too 
long." Ckay smiled.  "At least I've USED my time here.  Though, I guess everyone 
must have a hobby."
     "Hobby?" Jhonen smiled.  "Is that how you describe the human race?  Our 
hobby?"
     Ckay shrugged.  "I'd rather not think about the human race right now.  I 
have more important things to do."
     "No...you don't." Jhonen said calmly.  "And what did you mean by using your 
time here?"
     "I'm sure you'll find out soon." Ckay raised an eyebrow.  "I doubt even YOU 
know what tasks I am planning."
     "Maybe I do..." he sighed.  "Maybe I don't.  I may be Dave's friend...but I 
don't have to agree with his decision to keep you a member."
     "And I suppose you have the power to 'boot me out', so to speak." Ckay 
challenged. "You aren't strong enough to do it without your buddy."
     Jhonen frowned and leaned back in his chair.  "You really are an 
asshole...you know that, don't you?"
     "I'm only an asshole to those unwilling to do their best." Ckay said.  
"Despite what you think of me, you'd be surprised how many of my own friends 
I've made during my stay here.  Quit hiding behind the false pretence that you 
are a superior being and grow up.  If you're not willing to use your power, then 
you ARE just human."
     Chhhoooomm... The echo rang out as Jhonen's feet hit the floor with his 
rise.  "I have never killed before." he walked closer to Ckay.  "Perhaps it is 
just that I've never cared enough about someone to end their life." Ckay stepped 
a bit back as Jhonen kept coming.  "Be thankful that I care little for you."
     Ckay took a nervous swallow...not too sure what to expect from the man.
     "However..." Jhonen stopped himself.  "I may not have the  power to end 
your life...but I do have the power to knock you back down to a standard mind." 
he smiled, enjoying the irony.  "You'll be my hobby again."
     A bolt of panic flashed through Ckay's eyes.  "No..."
     The door slid open again.  Dave walked through.  
     "Dave...help...he's trying to kill me!" Ckay said quickly, thinking to 
confuse him.
     Dave crossed his arms.  "We tried, Ckay...we tried to give you time to 
learn the ropes of things."
     Ckay glanced back to Jhonen.  "You...you set me up...Dave was watching all 
along."
     Jhonen took a step back.  "No matter what kind of person I am, I am at 
least under the illusion that I'm a nice guy.  I don't like assholes."
     Dave nodded.  "Don't worry, Ckay...it's not as painful going back as it was 
going forward."
     Ckay swallowed hard.  "You can't...it's not right!  You can't just give me 
a glimpse of divinity and suddenly strip me of it!"
     "Divinity?" Jhonen laughed.  "Is that what you call it?  Well, we can't let 
you keep the power if you don't have the control." he said.  "And if it was our 
choice, we wouldn't have let you have it in the first place."
     Ckay nodded.  "Okay...fine.  If that's the way it's going to be, then this 
God isn't going to go without a fight."
     Before either could act, Ckay disappeared in a shimmer of light.
     "Damn!" Dave walked forward to his friend.  "Where is he going?"
     Jhonen shrugged.  "I'd use the point calculator to find him, but I think he 
was screwing with it earlier."
     "Alert the Web." Dave said, walking to his command chair. 
     "Is that really such a good idea?" Jhonen asked suddenly.  "What about the 
new members...and Mary, a few others...they've been supporting him pretty 
strongly these last few days."
     "What are you saying?" Dave asked.
     "What I'm saying is that we've never had to deal with an inside conflict 
before." Jhonen said quietly.  "You know as well as I do that not everyone in 
the Web is like us.  Hell, I could name three people off the top of my head who 
would support the little asshole."
     "Shit."
     "Dave, we have got to do this ourselves, and we have got to do this now." 
     Dave nodded.  "Fine.  First things first.  We lock down the P.C. so he 
can't use it."
     Jhonen nodded his agreement.  The two walked over to the silent, glowing 
crystal in the corner.  "Ready."
     Dave walked up to the Calculator as well.  As the two reached for the 
controls, their hands were hit with a jolt of electricity that sent them flying 
backwards, stunned.  "What the FUCK!" Dave growled.  
     Jhonen helped his friend to his feet.  "It's just a low level electron 
scattering field.  We can get through it in a few minutes no problem."
     Dave nodded.  "Okay." he raised an eyebrow.  "Say...would you object to 
some outside help?"
     "No...but who do you have in mind?" Jhonen asked.
     "The Sailor Scouts owe me a favour...it couldn't hurt to ask." Dave whipped 
out his communication-card.

     Mina sat outside Rei's temple when the call came.  She heard the little 
card inside her shirt pocket beep.  "What the..."
     He pulled out the little card and activated it.  Dave's head appeared.  "Hi 
Mina...sorry to bother you."
     Mina smiled.  "Oh!  Hell!  No bother!" she smiled, quickly checking her 
hair.  "What's up?"
     Dave sighed.  "It's Ckay...he's over the edge.  Me and Jhonen are afraid 
alerting the others will cause a rift in the Web...are you guys free?"
     Mina almost dropped the card.  "What?"
     "Are you and the Scouts able to help us out?"
     Mina blinked.  "Oh...Ah...Of course...but what can we do?"
     "Just meet me at the park.  I'll have a portal waiting for you to take you 
into the Omega Web."
     Mina nodded.  "Okay."
     "Thanks..." Dave smiled.  The cube disappeared.
     Mina raised her eyebrows in a kind of a smile.  "Wow..." she then got 
serious.  "Okay...who's still awake?"






     "You can't be serious..." Rei laughed.

     Chris nodded and continued typing on his screen.  "See?  When you do a web-
search for 'I like cheese', you get thirty thousand possible websites." Chris 
said proudly.  "It's rather amazing that so many people like cheese and make 
websites about it."
     "Billions of dollars of technology...just so 'I like Cheese' can survive a 
nuclear war." Rei laughed.  
     A knock on the door interrupted them.  "Come in?" Rei answered.
     Mina popped her head through.  "Hi guys.  I had a feeling you'd still be 
up." she beamed. "Uhm, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
     "Just my plot to take over Russia, Cuba, and half of Antarctica." Chris 
smiled.  "Oh well...I can always do that tomorrow."
     "Anyone up for a little Scoutin'?" Mina asked.
     They both nodded.
     "Dave just contacted me, and he needs our help." 
     "Dave?" Rei asked.  "Oh, the nice guy from the Omega Web, right?"
     "Yes.  Something's wrong, and he asked whoever's available for help.  You 
two coming?" Mina asked.
     "But of course."  Chris said, shutting his laptop.  "I'd love to see the 
computers that can make them gigabyte-big viruses undetectable!" he smiled.
     Rei sighed.  "Well, I'm not doing anything else tonight...though, I hope 
this isn't anything heavy."
     
     


















                                    Chapter 9
         






                       
     Jhonen sat at a terminal, desperately trying to hack into Ckay's electron 
barrier protecting the Point Calculator.  "Man, he may be an asshole, but he 
certainly learned our computers quickly." he sighed, typing at a panel and using 
a type of telepathic interface at the same time.  
     "Keep at it, buddy." Dave said, typing at his own control panel.  "Hey..."
     "What is it?"
     "We have a call." Dave smiled.
     "Oh oh." Jhonen smiled back.
     Dave opened the call and the main screen in the room showed Karen, one of 
the other Omega Web members.  "Hi, Dave." she smiled sweetly.  "What's up?"
     Dave shrugged.  "Oh, not much.  Ckay's been fucking with the Point 
Calculator, that's all."
     "Really?" Karen frowned.  "That's not what he told me."
     "Oh oh." Jhonen said from the back.
     "Oh...well what did he tell you?" Dave asked.
     Karen continued to glare.  "Why have you locked down the control room?  Are 
you scared that we would find out about your little attempted murder?"
     Dave raised an eyebrow.  "You can't be serious."
     "Dave...what's wrong with you?  Why are you acting so..."
     "Karen...Ckay's lying, I'm fine, and if you really give a shit for what 
this organization stands for, you'll stay out of the way until I can explain 
later."
     "I'm sorry, Dave..." Karen said, shaking her head.  "We have no choice."
     The screen went blank.  
     "Oh shit." Dave said.  He stood up quickly.  "They're already coming." he 
turned to the main screen again.  "Central Control.  This is Dave Reinquest."
     The screen acknowledged his identification.
     "Lockdown the Control Room.  Nullify all Omega Web command access for all
members except agent Dave Reinquest and agent Jhonen Vasquez.  Now."
     The computer complied.  
     "Delete backups zero-zero-one through one-one-zero." Dave continued. 
     "Almost through." Jhonen said.
     A sudden shower of sparks came from the door.  A klaxon sounded.  "Looks 
like this won't be such a nice evening after all." Jhonen sighed.  "Hey, are you 
little palls coming?"
     "We don't have time." Dave said quickly.  "The computer registers four of 
the others trying to break in.  They should be able to breach the defences in 
about two or so minutes."
     "Two minutes?" Jhonen gasped.  He turned back to the panel he had been 
working on. "Two minutes then." he resumed hacking through the barrier.
     "Come on...there's not going to be enough time." Dave said.  "It still 
takes a full minute to lock down the P.C., and they'll be in by then."
     Jhonen didn't move.  "I'm not giving up.  That Ckay bastard is not going to 
gain control of the future of Earth.  I couldn't give a shit what happens to 
me...you go."
     Dave paused.  "Jhonen..."
     "Get the hell out of here.  I still have access...I can lock it down." 
Jhonen demanded. "GO!"
     Dave stood, looked to the roof in frustration, then sighed.  "Fine.  
Computer, open a secure portal to the pre-arranged co-ordinates."
     In the middle of the room, a shimmering, reflective sphere appeared.  It 
was now the only way out save of turning off the security systems.  Dave was 
about to reconsider.
     "GO!" His friend yelled again.  Two more showers of sparks came from the 
door.  
     "Give em hell, buddy." Dave sighed, then stepped into the sphere.

     A second later, he was standing on grass.

     The portal collapsed a second after he emerged.  He looked around quickly.  
It was night.  Probably about four in the morning.  Perhaps Mina didn't come 
after all.  He was about to teleport off, when he heard footsteps.  
     Mina, Rei and Chris came running out from behind a bush.  "Are you alright?  
We were supposed to meet you on your side!" Mina asked, concerned.
     Dave sighed.  "We have kind of a major problem."
     Chris sighed.  "Major?"
     "The Omega Web has just been taken over by Ckay." Dave lowered his head.  
"Within a day, he'll have the power to do whatever he wants short of destroying 
the Solar System.  My best friend is still back there.  There is currently no 
way for us to return, and there's a good chance at least four people are 
supporting Ckay."
     The three Scouts blinked.  
     Dave smiled.  "Come on, we have about an hour before they have the ability 
to chase after us.  I may as well tell you the details."
     Rei sighed and lowered her head slightly.  "Chris, why is it that every 
time we have some time together, the Earth decides to screw up?"
     "Magic." Chris shrugged with a tired smile. 






    
     "Computer, lock down the Point Calculator to accept commands from only Dave
Reinquest and nobody else.  Is that clear?" Jhonen ordered quickly as another 
spark hit.
     "Do you wish to retain your own command codes?" the computer asked.
     "Dammit!  No!  NOBODY is to have access except Dave. Okay?"
     "Understood.  Authorization please."
     Jhonen began to send a telepathic stream of codes into the interface.  
"Authorization Jhonen Vasquez.  Pass phrase, wacky."
     The computer complied.  "Point Calculator now off line until new command."
     Jhonen smiled as a final shower of sparks flew from the door.  The 
teleportation seal was gone.  Four balls of light entered through the wall, then 
slowly materialized into people.  Ckay was one of them.  He wore a curious look 
on his face.  "Mmm, I didn't expect you to get through the defence field so 
quickly.  You're a lucky man." Ckay said quietly as the other three circled
around Jhonen.
     "Where's Dave?" Karen demanded.  "If you tell us, we have no quarrel with 
you."
     Jhonen yawned.  "I killed him.  Did you think I'd follow that weak-willed 
asshole forever?" he snickered.
     Ckay sighed.  "Oh really, I expected a better lie from you.  At least you 
could have had the dignity of doing THAT right."
     "What did he tell you, Karen?" Jhonen asked.  "What did he put into your 
head to make you follow such a power-hungry little jerk?"
     Karen frowned and crossed her arms.  "Unlike you, I don't draw comic books 
all day.  I'm actually trying to save the Omega Web from poor leadership."
     "Leadership is a primitive concept." Jhonen sighed, reclining in his chair.  
"The only reason why Dave took the title was because he was cautious enough to 
use the command codes properly." he turned to Ckay.  "Other, lesser-minds may 
have misused them."
     Ckay raised an eyebrow.  "Oooh, nice insult.  Did you read that one in an 
X-Men issue?"
     One of the others was at a computer terminal.  "Ckay, I don't have any 
access!  Dave must have locked us out!"
     Ckay sighed.  "Don't worry.  A delay at best.  We can hack round it with 
enough time." he turned to Jhonen.  "Besides, we have our little buddy here, and 
I'm sure he still has his command codes."
     Jhonen smiled.  "Wrong again." he swivelled his chair to face the Point 
Calculator.  "Computer, show me all possible future clusters within a ninety 
percent probability at the end of the hour."
     "Access denied." The computer stated.  "The P.C. is now offline.  Currently 
accepting Level Omega access only."

     Ckay's eyes narrowed to tiny slits.

     Jhonen kept his shit-eating-grin on his face and spun around his chair just 
to rub in the fact.
     "You're going to pay for that, my friend." Ckay growled.
     Jhonen shrugged.  "As I told Dave, I don't give a shit what you do to me." 
he stood up, raised his arm and shot a pulse of light at Ckay's head.
     Ckay dematerialized out of the way just before it hit, and rematerialized a 
second later, frown now turned to a sneer.
     "I'm not going to let you ruin the Earth." Jhonen smiled, putting down his 
arm as Ckay's buddies all got ready to fight back to defend their new leader.  
     
     
     

















                                  Chapter 10








     "I hope it was okay to ask for your help." Dave apologized as they walked 
in the middle of a giant cave...smack dab in the middle of Antarctica.
     Mina had gotten over the initial shock of being transported suddenly into a 
barren wasteland, and was walking beside him.  "Well, I certainly don't mind." 
Mina smiled quickly.  "And the others back me up, and I do the same.  Plus, like 
I said, we owe you one."
     Dave smiled.  "Thanks.  Okay, first thing we're going to have to do is get 
access to the computer."
     As Dave and Mina talked, Rei and Chris sat down on a nearby ice formation.    
"Well," Rei sighed.  "Nothing like a walk through Antarctica in the morning."
     "Mina's just constantly chipper, that's all." Chris continued.  "Hey!  
Dave!"
     Dave turned to him.  "Yeah?"
     "So, where is the Omega Web, anyway?" Chris asked.  "Is it some weird 
dimension that you have to go through a portal to access?"
     Dave raised an eyebrow.  "Actually, we're based under the San Andres Fault, 
three hundred kilometres North of Los Angeles."
     Chris blinked.  "Oh.  Cool."
     "We also have offices in Tokyo, Moscow, Denver and Vancouver." Dave 
continued.  "Actually, you are correct in a sense.  You see, the Omega Web uses 
a kind of fourth dimension to move around in.  Our 'Office-Building' is just 
rooms in all these cities that are connected by hallways.  The difference with 
our building is that these hallways warp space and allow you cover continents in 
a few footsteps."
     "Must be a bitch trying to add up frequent flyer miles." Rei smiled.  
     Dave nodded.  "Luckily, we haven't expanded our offices to Antarctica.  You 
see, despite the Point Calculator and all our other sensors, the magnetic 
interference should buy us some time.  As long as Ckay and his little buddies 
don't know where we are within five or so kilometres, we're safe."
     "That's another thing." Rei frowned.  "What exactly do you expect us to 
do?"
     "You were able to launch that Lord into orbit without much effort...so what 
good are we going to be fighting against your colleagues?" Chris asked.  
     "Well, basically, the plan is that I take care of their major powers.  I 
should be able to cancel out a few of Ckay's friends at a time.  Then, once 
they're down to a manageable level, you three can help." He sighed.  "As I have 
tried to show Ckay, we're not gods.  We're just as human as you people...we just 
have a bit more luck."
     Chris grinned happily.  "Squeeee!  I love manageable levels!  You can nuke 
the bad-guys, have some fun, and be home before lunch!"
     Dave coughed.  "That's another thing."
     "What?" Rei asked.
     "I don't know if it's going to be possible, but if it doesn't jeopardize 
anyone or anything's safety, I'd like to keep the death-count as close to zero 
as possible." Dave said, taking a deep breath.  "Most of these people have been 
my friends for years.  Not only that, but every time one of us dies, new members 
join.  What we don't need is to be in the middle of a battle and suddenly have 
to council new members who have no idea how to control their new minds."
     "In other words, what we could get is more Ckay's." Mina added.  
     "Like New York City rats!" Chris commented. "You kill one, and then four 
more show up!"
     Everyone looked at him. "Never mind." he sighed.  "I haven't slept in 
thirty hours...I get a little weird."








     "Do you have any idea what's going on?" Roberts asked around to the other 
Omega Web members.
     Ckay had called a meeting.  The first one in what had to be a decade.  Even 
when the superintendent died that week, only private mourning and the shift in 
command announced the death.  Informal as it was, this kind of pomp was hardly 
the Omega Web's style.
     "I don't know." Black replied.  Black was the oldest living member of the 
Web, and he had an uneasy feeling about what was happening.  "Have you seen Dave 
lately?"
     "No...he was going to give me an update about the Ozone programs from the 
UN members, but..."
     Ckay materialized at the front of the room, right at the podium.  He wasted 
no time.  "Can I have your attentions, please."
     Everyone stopped talking and turned to face him.  Two of his friends 
materialized in as well.  Then, the third walked in with Jhonen.  Jhonen was 
wearing a restraining jacket.  It prevented him from using any energy powers, 
and generally kept him from trying to move too fast.
     Black stood up and pointed to Jhonen.  "What the HELL is this, Ckay?" he 
demanded. 
     "Please, please..." Ckay sighed as half of the room stood up in outrage of 
seeing Jhonen confined.
     Jhonen couldn't help but shoot a smile at Ckay.  
     "Sit down, and I'll explain." Ckay said over the crowd's hum.  
     Black sat down, so did the rest.  "This had better be good." he growled.
     "Okay," Ckay smiled.  "I'll cut to the chase.  Dave is trying to take over 
the Omega Web."
     Black again rose.  "THAT'S IT..." he headed for the door.  "Ckay, you 
better get the hell out of this building by the end of the day, cause if I see 
you again, I'll..."
     "Go ahead." Ckay interrupted.  "Everyone...see if you have any more 
computer access?"
     Everyone was quiet.
     Black nodded.  "Fine.  Computer.  Read access rights of Arthur Black."
     The computer's voice read back "All high computer commands currently locked 
out.  Privilege level one only."
     Everyone blinked.
     Black continued.  "Computer?  Who removed my access rights?"
     "Dave Reinquest."
     Ckay took the moment of confusion to pad his lie.  "He and his little 
buddy, Jhonen tried to KILL me this morning because I was in the command room 
when they were about to take over."
     "It's true!" Karen said.  "Ckay barely escaped and had just enough time to 
get my help.  I saw the whole thing!"
     Everyone turned to Jhonen.
     Jhonen's eyes narrowed.  "Let me guess...you believe this asshole?"
     Roberts walked up to Jhonen quickly.  "Quite frankly, yes.  What the hell's 
going on?  Can you prove otherwise?"
     "Actually, yes." Jhonen smiled.  "If I was trying to take over the Omega 
Web, why would I remove my own computer access?"
     "Computer...Please read the access rights for Jhonen Vasquez." Roberts said 
quickly.
     "Access denied." the computer replied.  "Access level 2 required for 
request."
     Roberts turned to Jhonen.  "You'll have to ask yourself.  Apparently, I 
can't inquire about others anymore."
     "Fine." Jhonen shrugged.  "Computer, please read me my access rights."
     "Jhonen Vasquez has level Omega-two access"
     Jhonen's face dropped.  "WHAT?????"
     Ckay was confused also, but still took advantage of it.  "See?  Luckily you 
called his bluff and verified it!"
     Roberts frowned and walked off.
     Jhonen was helpless as the others all exchanged looks of disgust.  "No!  
NO!  That's not how it went!" He wrestled free from Ckay's friend and hoped up 
onto the stage. "NO!  Dammit!  I forgot to erase my computer access!  I only 
erased my Point-Calculator privileges so Ckay couldn't use them..."
     Three other people ran up and tried to restrain him.  
     Black stood from the back of the room, speechless.
     "Black!" Jhonen yelled out at the old man.  "Black!  You know that we've 
been uncertain of Ckay!  He's unstable!  We were trying to cut off his access!  
We weren't sure who his friends were!" 
     "We've had enough of your lies." Ckay growled at him as he was knocked to 
the ground and restrained. 
     "Dammit!" Jhonen growled.  "You're NOT going to overthrow the Omega Web!  
If I have to destroy EVERY FUCKING ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS!"
     Ckay smiled.  "See fellow Omega Webbers?  He's so desperate that he's 
willing to kill."
     "Black!  Listen to me!" Jhonen yelled over the crowd's rising murmur.  
"Don't let them fool you!  Question everything!"
     "Get that traitor out of here." Ckay ordered smugly.  The two supporters of 
his nodded and dragged Jhonen off.  
     As he passed Black, Jhonen saw only his blank face.  "Question...that's all 
I ask." Jhonen said finally as he was drug out of the room.  
     Black closed his eyes.  He no longer knew where his loyalties lie, but he 
knew that Jhonen was speaking from whatever honour he had.  And so, he left the 
meeting, not wanting to hear any more.  Perhaps he already knew what was 
happening, but was powerless to prevent it.
     As the crowd began to grow louder with speculation, Ckay retook the centre 
of attention. "Fellow Omega Webbers.  I know you are all shocked from his 
horrible ordeal, but you also must know that Dave is still out there, and we 
must act quickly."
     Karen nodded.  "He still has computer access.  If we don't do something 
soon, he could quite easily complete his task of taking over...even now with our 
knowledge of his plans."
     Everyone was now paying attention.
     Ckay sighed a false sigh.  "I'm afraid, first of all, that we're going to 
have to make some changes."


















 
                                  Chapter 11








     Chris and Rei had dozed off finally.  Not surprisingly, in each other's 
arms.  It wasn't cold in the cave Dave had brought them too, but Mina shivered 
slightly when she saw the two together.  She felt naked without someone.  Chris 
told her once that the last thing she should do was to be rushed into finding a 
companion.  Right now, those words seemed hollow.
     Mina's eyes widened.  How could she call herself the goddess of love and 
justice when she wasn't even going out with someone?  It was a petty thing, and 
deep down, she knew it, but she couldn't help but be a little jealous of Rei.  
Not to mention a LOT jealous of Serena and Darien.  Hell....even Artemis and 
Luna had each other.  Who did she have?  Nobody.
     "What'cha thinking about?" Dave asked suddenly, starting Mina out of her 
little snit.
     Mina turned to him.  "What?"
     Dave motioned to the two sleeping off in the cave.  "You've been staring at 
them for five minutes and thirty five point oh-two-five-six seconds." he smiled.  
"What's so interesting?"
     "I like Chris' coat." she lied.
     Dave was fiddling with a piece of ice-crystal he had found on the ground.  
"Oh.  You know, if you're tired, you may as well go to sleep.  It's still only 
about two in the morning, Tokyo time."
     "Why did you pick me?" Mina asked suddenly.  "I mean, Ckay was bugging me 
for a while, but I'm sure you could have just sent one of them little camera-
balls to follow him around."
     Dave blinked.  "I guess so, but if he saw it following him, he would have 
been pissed."
     Mina nodded.  "Oh.  I see."
     "What makes you ask that?" Dave asked.
     Mina sighed deeply.  The sound echoed off the cool turquoise walls around 
them.  "I'm just curious, I guess."
     "An admirable trait in any human." Dave nodded back.  "I'm actually pretty 
impressed with the Sailor Scouts.  You have open minds, and aren't really 
opposed to new ideas."
     Mina smiled.  "Thanks, I guess." her eyes closed into narrow slits.  
"Say...how closely do you watch us?"
     Dave, sensing the tone of Mina's voice, coughed.  "Uh, don't worry.  Not 
too closely or anything.  I assume you're worried about your privacy?  We just 
watch your battles, mostly."
     Mina nodded in approval.  She decided to venture a bit.  "Still, I wouldn't 
mind too much as long as I knew it was just you watching, and not some of the 
other weird 'Ckay' type people."
     Dave blinked, speechless.  If Mina hadn't been looking right at him, she 
would have missed his blush. 
     Mina smiled sweetly and yawned.  "Well, you're right...I better get some 
rest.  If you want, we can contact the others in the morning." 
     "Uh...thanks." Dave said, waving as Mina stood up and walked over to a wall 
to sleep by.  He sighed, then smiled to himself.  "Let's not get too friendly 
with your project, now, Dave."







     Andrea woke up that morning and went straight for the fridge. 
"Food...foooood....foood..." she chanted zombie-like.  She looked at the clock.  
It was ten A.M.  "Ugh...too early."
     She turned around and headed back for bed.  On the way, though, she decided 
to check out Chris to make sure he shut off his computer.  He had asked that she 
do so because of his habit of falling asleep with it's batteries draining.  She 
peered into Rei's room, where he had been sleeping.  Nobody was there.
     Her eyes widened.  "Chris?  Awake BEFORE noon?  Something must be wrong."
     And Rei was gone too?  She despised ANYONE who woke her up.  
     Last week, Chris wanted to surprise her and treat her to breakfast.  Rei, 
however, had other ideas.  A moment after he walked into her room, she literally 
kicked him out.  At first, from the volume of the yelling, they had all thought 
the two had broken up over some amazingly tragic reason.  It turned out that Rei 
just want a morning person.  Oh well.  Nobody's perfect.
     So, they hadn't heard Rei screaming that morning....so that would mean they 
went out last night and never came back.  "Oh oh..." she blinked.  Then, she 
smiled.  "Oooh, a crisis!  A perfect opportunity to visit my honey downtown."
     She ran back to her room, and a few minutes later, emerged fully clothed.  
"Oh, those Mamo-chans, oh, those Mamo-chans..." she began humming as she walked 
out the door.







     Serena sat back in Darien's large, overstuffed couch.  This was the first 
moment she had to relax in a long time.  The "official" crisis of the break 
turned out to be nothing much, and her mind was free.  She didn't even have to 
worry about Rini showing up during some intimate moment between her and Darien, 
and although Chibi-Chibi was gone, she felt that all her loved ones were happy 
and healthy again.  
     It was a marvellous feeling.  
     Perhaps, that's why she continued to exceed herself to save them.  If for 
no other reason, she loved all of her friends dearly, and she only felt really 
content when they were also content.  
     "Well...I..." she yawned.  "I think I'll take a quick snoozy..." Poor 
Serena never had a chance to finish her thought.  She was snoring quietly a 
moment later.
     Across from her, Darien looked up from his novel and smiled.  "I guess I'm 
not a very exciting guy when I'm not decked out in a cape and mask."
     He got up and went to his bedroom.  A moment later, he emerged with a 
blanket, and gently wrapped it around his sleeping meatball head.  "Dream sweet 
dreams, my princess." he whispered, kissing her on the forehead.  "You've 
deserved them."
     Serena sneezed suddenly, but kept her eyes close..  "Thank you..." she 
mumbled, half asleep.
     Darien was about to return to his reading chair next to the window when he 
heard a knock on the door.  He walked over to it quietly and opened it to see 
Andrea almost bouncing up and down in excitement.  "Hi!" 
     Darien pointed into the apartment at Serena.  "Shhh, that's the first sleep 
she's gotten in a week." he smiled, letting Andrea in.
     Andrea nodded, taking off her coat.  "Oh, by the way..."
     Darien was completely caught off guard as she jumped him and clung to his 
torso, knocking him over in a quiet thud.  "I missed you." Andrea giggled.
     Darien nodded wearily and pried Andrea off his chest.  "Um, glad to see you 
too."
     Suddenly, just as suddenly, that is, as she had jumped on him, her face 
dropped.  
     Darien blinked at the massive mood change and at first, didn't see what was 
going on.
     Andrea was looking at Darien's hand.  On it was a gold ring.  Darien 
blushed.  She quickly glanced over to Serena.  Her hand was also visible on top 
of her covers, and she had a similar ring with a diamond on it.  It didn't take 
a jeweller to see it was an engagement ring.  The one he had given her before 
his flight to Harvard.  
     Darien blushed as Andrea's eyes again turned to him.  "Why didn't you tell 
me about this?" she almost demanded.
     Darien stood up quietly.  "I thought it was obvious." Darien replied.  "And 
quite frankly, I don't owe you an explanation." His voice was apologetic, but 
unwavering.
     Andrea was quiet for a while.  "Mmm," she said finally.
     Darien sighed.  "Listen, I don't have to explain what you mean to me...it's 
just that Serena and I are in love."
     The dark blue haze of the room was beginning to get overpowered by tension.  
Andrea finally moved towards the door.  
     Darien almost sighed in relief that the situation was winding down.  "I'll 
tell you what, why don't I call you tomorrow and we can go out for dinner and 
discuss this like..."
     Andrea slammed the door behind.  Serena didn't budge, and actually started 
snoring.  
     Darien looked around, slightly stunned.  He had no idea what to do now.  
Sure, he knew the outcome...he and Serena were not only destined to be together, 
but they also wanted it actively.  Now, it was just a matter of causing the 
least amount of heartbreak along the way.  
     With lack of anything else to do, he decided it best to sit down and return 
to his novel.  As he sat down, though, the page was book marked by a tear.
















                                  Chapter 12
  





     "Well well." Ckay's voice knocked Dave out of his sleep.
     Dave instinctively transported to his feet and looked around.  "Ahh, so 
you've stopped time?  Nice trick.  Took me a week to learn it."
     The Scouts lay sleeping a few metres away.  Dave nodded in approval that 
they were safe to himself.  Ckay continued.  "Don't worry about your little 
buddies.  I don't give a shit if you come quietly." he materialized in front of 
Dave abruptly for effect.
     Dave frowned.  "I'd rather kick your ass...but knowing you, your little 
fan club is around here somewhere."
     Ckay smiled.  "So...you DO know something."
     Dave crossed his arms.  "Why don't we finish this right now?  You and me.  
Hell...I'll even go against your little friends too if I have to." he turned his 
head slightly.  "Roberts, Karen...I'm disappointed in you."
     The two appeared instantly.  Roberts frowned.  "Jhonen's in custody.  Your 
plan has failed."
     Dave rolled back his eyes.  "Okay, for once and for all...WHAT AM I 
PLANNING TO DO?!!" he yelled so loudly, it would have caused the cave's roof to 
cave in if time was in normal speed.
     Karen looked to Roberts.  "He really might not know...Maybe it was 
Jhonen..."
     Ckay shot her a quick look.  "Karen...I need your support...don't back out 
on me."
     Dave smiled calmly.  "Yes, Karen...he wants you to stay focused so you 
don't have time to think of what he's really doing." All the while he kept a 
gaze on Ckay.  "Isn't that right, old' buddy?"
     Ckay frowned.  "Unlike you, I gain support by the truth."
     "You're really starting to believe yourself now, aren't you?" Dave sighed.  
"Fine.  Let's go.  You and me, right now.  You name the place and situation, I 
don't care."
     "Why is Mina here...?" Ckay said suddenly, as if he just noticed.
     Dave was caught off guard by the question.  "Excuse me?"
     Ckay looked at Mina, sleeping off in the distance, then turned back to 
Dave.  "You son of a bitch..."
     "I'm getting really sick of your assumptions." Dave growled.     
     "THAT's why you told me to lay off..." Ckay growled back.  "You said that 
we Omega-Webs don't get involved because of the differences...she said the 
same...you two were just throwing me off track because you didn't want me to get 
between..."
     "Leave her out of this.  They owed me a favour, and I needed help." Dave 
said.
     "Ohhh!" Ckay smiled, backing up.  "This is great.  This is just amazing."  
His grin widened hideously.  "You two are in love."
     Dave's eyes widened.  "What??"
     "Karen!  Roberts!  New plan!  Get the Scouts.  Take them to Holding Cell R-
2." Ckay barked.  
     Dave watched in horror as in a flash of light, the Scouts disappeared.  
"Ckay...I'm going to..." before he even finished his sentence, Dave lashed out 
at the boy with a giant pulse of red light from his hand.
     Ckay was caught off guard, but managed to shield himself partially, and was 
only thrown backwards into the wall.
     "That's not a smart thing to do when I have your precious Mina captive." 
Ckay said, still smiling.
     Roberts and Karen materialized behind Dave and powered up similar red-bolts 
in their hands.  "Do that again, and you're dead." Roberts growled.
     For the first time in his life, Dave looked frustrated.  "Dammit, if you 
hurt any of them, I'll kill you.  They are NOT part of this!"
     Ckay walked forward.  "I'll tell you what.  Let's do a little trade."
     Dave closed his eyes.  "What." he demanded.  "As if I have a choice."
     Ckay raised an eyebrow.  "Oh, you do have a point there...oh well.  Here's 
the deal.  You unlock the computer and stay in your cell like a good little boy, 
and we'll let all of you live."
     "Please, Dave...take his offer." Karen said quietly.  "We don't want to let 
this thing get out of hand."

     Dave turned to her.  "It appears that it already has."






     
     Chris, Rei and Mina woke up on a hard, cold floor.  "What the hell?" Chris 
demanded.
     Rei looked around at the dimly lit room.  "We're...in some sort of a..."
     "You're in a cell." Dave said quietly from a dark corner.  "I'm sorry."



















                                 Chapter 13







     Lita yawned as she walked into the kitchen for breakfast.  Grandpa was 
there, shuffling around pots and pans.  "Hi Grandpa." she smiled.  "Say, have 
you seen Rei today?"
     Grandpa shrugged.  "How would I know?  That girl never tells me anything!" 
he growled and began to mumble to himself.  "I haven't seen her since last 
night!"
     "Mmm, that's weird." Lita said under her breath.  "Okay, well, thanks again 
for lunch."
     "With Rei out all the time, I'm just happy to feed SOMEONE." he continued 
to mumble bitterly.
     Lita walked out into the study room.  Ami was sitting down, reading a 
novel.  "Ami have you seen Rei or Chris?"
     "No, actually.  Not since yesterday." Ami said, looking up from her book.  
"Why don't you just call them up on the communicator?"
     Lita nodded with a smile.  "Of course!" she opened her little wrist 
communicator.  "Lita to Rei.  You there, woman?  We got shopping to do!" she 
giggled.  

     Nothing but static.

     Ami's attention was raised.  "That's weird."
     "Did she turn it off or something?" Lita asked.
     "No, it would just beep then.  It's like the channel doesn't exist 
anymore." Ami said, already analyzing the static with her computer.  "I've never 
seen anything like it."
     "What are you talking about?" Lita asked, annoyed.
     "Well, it's weird.  It's almost like the signal is trying to reach the 
communicator, but fails."
     "How's that so weird?" Lita asked.
     "Normally, if Rei's communicator was out of range or something, the signal 
wouldn't even be transmitted after the initial handshake burst."
     Lita's vacant expression urged Ami on.
     "Your communicator thinks it has found Rei's, but for some reason, you two 
aren't talking." Ami explained.  "Maybe Rei's is malfunctioning."
     Lita nodded.  "Cool.  Why didn't you just say so?" she smiled.  "Come on.  
We got noting better to do, lets go and tell her that her watch is busted."
     "But, it's Spring Break!  I want to get caught up on my reading!" Ami 
sighed. 
     Lita gave her a strange look.  "Come on." she grabbed Ami by the wrist and 
drug her out of the room.








     Chris paced back and fourth along one wall as the others sat.  "There's got 
to be a way out of here..." he said for the hundredth time.  
     Rei growled under her breath.  "Please be quiet.  I don't feel like killing 
you right now."
     Chris returned her look.  "Come on, we have no idea how long that Ckay 
asshole's going to keep us in here, I say we just blast a fucking hole in the 
wall and kick his ass."
     Rei stood up.  "Sure.  Okay.  That's really fucking smart.  Do you think 
that the most advanced people on earth will just hold us in a ball of tin foil?  
Even with your sword, you can't cut through anything."
     Chris frowned his response.  
     Dave cleared his throat.  "Don't try, Chris.  You'll just chip your sword."
     Chris blared at Dave now.  "And why's that?"
     Dave looked up at him.  "Your sword only works when it's within one hundred 
and two light years of Saturn.  Even then, you can only call upon your..." he 
smiled. "Chihuahua attack when you're in the Solar System."
     "So?"
     "You're not in the Solar System right now." Dave explained.  "You're in 
another half-dimension, and if you try to use your sword on that metal wall, the 
metal wall will win."
     Chris looked at the wall.  "Freakin wall."
     To everyone's shock, Chris began to body-check the wall.  "YEAH!  YOU!  
FREAKIN WALL!  YOU WANNA GO?? HUH????  WHATCHA SAY 'BOUT MY MOMMA??"
     Dave smiled.  "If only we could harness that energy."
     Rei smiled.  "Well, Chris is right.  We can't just sit here and rot while 
your buddy takes over."
     Dave seemed to slump down in his corner again.  "I don't see how."
     Mina had been quiet for most of the afternoon.  "Dave, you asked us here to 
help you.  And if there's one thing we don't do, is let our friends down."
     Chris continued to mosh the wall.
     Rei ignored him.  "Mina's damn right.  We've been through hell and kicked 
it's ass, and we're not going to let some wussy super-brain defeat us!"
     Dave nodded.  "Now I know why I chose you guys as a side-project.  You're 
great inspiration." he sighed.  "Okay, first of all, we need a way to contact 
Jhonen or someone like that."
     "Can't we just break out of here?" Mina asked.  "If we combine all our 
attacks...even without Chris' we might be able to get through a wall..."
     Dave shook his head.  "Remember, we're dealing with a cell that's suspended 
in an alternate form of space-time.  If we break out, all we'll see is void." he 
thought for a moment.  "Do your communicators work?"
     A sudden "CLANG!" caught everyone's attention.  They all turned to see 
Chris, picking up a small metal rectangle that had fallen of the wall.
     "What is that?" Mina asked.
     Chris looked at the wall.  "I found some kind of computer port!"
     "All the cells had them during the test-phases.  I thought they were all 
sealed, though." Dave said, rubbing his chin.
     "They must have been!" Rei smiled.  "But Chris just happened to body-check 
one open!"
     "Can we use it to contact anyone?" Mina asked.
     Dave's eyebrows lowered.  "No.  It's all encrypted.  You'd have to get by 
about twenty high level passwords before you can even LOOK at the network.  Even 
then, we'll have to unlock it all cause I disabled most of the commands before I 
left."
     Chris smiled evilly.  He then began chuckling like a mad scientist.  
     "What's up?" Rei asked.
     "Well, one of the best things about my uniform...issssssss..." he reached 
around to his back and yanked out his laptop.  "I have hacking equipment!"
     Dave almost laughed. 
     "What?" Chris asked when he saw Dave's face.
     "I'm sorry." Dave sighed.  "It's just that I hope you're not serious."
     Chris crossed his arms.  "And why wouldn't I be?"
     "The codes encrypting that access port are thirty years ahead of anything 
you've even seen.  The Omega Web is rather good at computers, you know." Dave 
said.
     "How old would the codes blocking access to your net be?" Chris asked, 
opening up his computer anyway.
     "About ten years." Dave replied.  "But still, they're more advanced then 
what you're probably used to."
     Chris smiled.  "I'll tell you what.  If I can get access to the net, you 
tell me everything you know about me."
     Dave shrugged. "Deal.  If you can break into the codes, then I'll allow a 
little security breach, and tell you what you want to know." he sat back down.  
"I DO hope you do it, but I'm just saying that even I know shit about those 
encryptions."
     Chris sat down and took out his sword.  He pried off the cover of the wall-
socket and began to pull out a long cable.  "Hexadecimal format?"
     Dave looked at the cable.  "No.  It should be like your Serial, but all you 
need is the top row.  Don't use the bottom unless your computer works on a 
system higher than binary."
     Chris nodded and then sighed as he began taking the cover off of his 
laptop.  
     Rei sat down next to him.  "He's right, you know.  You can't anti-hack an 
Omega Web network."
     "Watch me." Chris said, his face had a look of determination.  
     Rei turned back to Dave.  "Uhm, so what would be the chances off just 
busting through the wall again?"
                                

















                                Chapter 14
 








     The general assembly had left for the evening.  It had been a long day.  
Most days in the United Nations buildings were.  Hell, just the massive amounts 
of time and energy wasted to translate the debates and discussions into so many 
languages was appalling!  
     And so, for the third time in as many days, the head of the U.N. fell 
asleep in his desk, not even bothering to take off his shoes.  His desk was 
adjacent to the main hall where everyone met.  EVERYONE.  One, maybe two people 
from each country in the entire world.  Now, it was empty.

     Almost.

     The sound of sand hitting the tiled walk woke him up.  "What the...??" he 
got to his feet and left his desk to look around.
     A man was standing in the centre off the room.  It was Ckay.
     "Who are you!  How did you get in here?!!" 
     Ckay smiled and walked forward.  "I'd like to be the first to warn you to 
stay out of our way."
     The man frowned, rubbed his temple, and decided that the day was about to 
get longer.  "What?"
          







     Serena burst out from Darien's apartment in a half-clutz-attack.  "I've got 
to find Andrea!" she gasped, running down the sidewalk.  
     Darien had told her what happened earlier on that evening.  Serena wanted 
to make sure Andrea was alright.  The last thing she needed right now was an 
enemy of her.  No matter what happened in the past, present, or future, she was 
part of the Sailor Scouts.
     Andrea hadn't gone far.  She was standing in a nearby park, and had an air 
of gloom around her that seemed to repel little children and park wild-life.  
Everything about her said she wanted to be left alone.  Perhaps Serena should 
have expected what happened next, and should have been careful not to push the 
situation.
     As she placed her hand on Andrea's shoulder, Andrea spun around, grabbed 
her by the wrist, and tossed her over her shoulder like a pillow.
     Serena only realized what happened when the freezing cold water of the 
park-fountain surrounded her body and began to fall on her head.  "AHHHHH!" she 
screamed, desperately grabbing for the sides of the fountain.
     Andrea gasped suddenly, realizing what she had done.  "Oh shit....I'm 
sorry!" she ran over and helped Serena out of the fountain.
     Serena, now on her feet, shivered like a wet cat.  "Ahhhhh!" she gasped.  
"What the..."
     Andrea backed up a bit.  "Oh jeze, I'm sorry..." she said, almost smiling.  
"I wasn't thinking..."
     Serena looked up, and in one second, forgot all she was going to say.  
"ARRGGHHH!!!!" she growled, storming off.  "THAT'S IT!  As soon as Rei gets off 
my back, there's ANDREA to replace her!  AHHHH!!!"
     Andrea's face sunk.  She ran up to Serena.  "I said I was sorry!"
     Serena kept walking.  "You know what?  I don't care if you're sorry or not.  
The novelty of being thrown into tubs of icy-cold water ran out a LONG time 
ago!" she shook slightly to dry off a bit.
     Andrea hung her head a bit.  "Listen, I'm sorry.  I was just caught off 
guard by your guy's engagement."
     "Hey!  It's not like he fell into my lap and we just exchanged vows!" 
Serena growled.  "We've been through a LOT, and quite frankly, you're not 
exactly the worst obstacle we've faced."
     Andrea frowned.  "I'm NOT in the way, and I find it offensive that you 
would ever think I was."
     "Ooooooh, suurrree...." Serena started.
     "Hey!  If I wanted to be in the way, I would have been." Andrea grabbed 
Serena by her collar.  "No matter what he's told you or what YOU believe, we 
love each other."  Her face went blank.  "It wasn't enough...but we still love 
each other.  And if you think I'm not doing everything in my power to make sure 
you aren't hurt by that..." she pulled out her mask-pin from her jacket.  Her 
transformation device.   "Then I am not in your trust as a protector, and I will
resign."
     Serena was silent as Andrea dropped the pin and was gone before it hit the 
ground.
     The damp, meat-ball-headed girl bent down and picked up the pin from the 
dirt.  Why...after all the other girls have done for her...why couldn't she see 
that there was something behind the friendship?
     They were not just friends.  They were also her guardians.  They were the 
only people in the universe who would give their lives up for a seemingly below-
average, clutzy young girl who on more that one occasion would act selfish and 
stupid.  All that didn't matter.  After all, she was Sailor Moon.  

     Serena put the pin in her pocket and shook off what she could of the water 
in her hair.  It was time, at least in a small way, to grow up.
     
     









     







                                   Chapter 15








     Rei examined the contents of her hand.  It appeared to be some kind of 
Jell-O.  "We eat this??" she asked Dave, hoping he'd say 'no.'
     "Unfortunately, yes." Dave sneered.  "Instead of risking prisoner escape 
during any kind of 'feeding time,' the Omega Web set up the cells so food would 
be transported in.  It's not really hard to do." he paused.  "Though I'm curious 
to know why Ckay doesn't just let us die."
     "Maybe he still likes me." Mina said.
     Rei shrugged and took a bite of the floppy cube of gel.  Everyone watched 
her swallow.  She smiled.  "Well, at least it doesn't taste like shit or 
anything."
     The rest dug in.  Except Chris, who was frantically typing on his keyboard.  
He had been for the last three hours now.  The others didn't interrupt in fear 
of some retaliation.
     Rei, though, ventured.  "Chris, you need anything?  If you take a break, it 
won't make much difference."
     Chris looked up from his screen.  "God damn fucking LAPTOPS!" he yelled, 
almost throwing his computer across the room.

     Everyone blinked.

     Chris looked around at their startled expressions.  "Sorry." he sighed, 
calming down.  "What I wouldn't give for a nice ergonomic keyboard instead of 
these damn pea-sized keys!"    
     He grabbed his Jell-O cube and ate it in one gulp.  Just as quickly as he 
became excited, Chris was now typing away again.  
     Rei sighed and sat down next to him.  "Don't you think Dave should be doing 
this?  I'm sure he has a better knowledge of..."
     "Actually," Dave interrupted.  "I never knew the computer systems of that 
year.  Not only that, but my buddy, Jhonen is the hacker out of the both of us."  
He gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Rei.  If anyone can hack out of this 
thing, it will have to be Chris."
     Rei smiled.  "Oooh, I'm so relived now."
     Chris turned to her.  "I may surprise you yet, Miss Hino." he said 
nonchalantly.  "After all, how many aliens and enemies have you faced that said 
they were the most powerful in the universe, then failed when they tried to kill 
you guys?"
     Rei shrugged.  "Stranger things have happened."






     
     Ami walked down the street, holding her tiny computer in front of her.  She 
had transformed to gain use of her VR shield, and now, was gaining lots of 
attention from the people milling about.
     Lita, now in Jupiter form, stared down overly-curious pedestrians, forcing 
them to leave.  "Are you almost done, Mercury?  People are going to start 
turning on the camcorders."
     Ami had become intrigued with the problem at hand.  "Not yet."  The 
readings she was getting were unlike anything she had ever seen before.  The 
signals were not only being bounced back to Lita's communicator, but they were 
being altered in such a way as to give the appearance that Rei's communicator 
was shut-off. 
     Not necessarily a strange thing by itself, but Rei and Lita NEVER shut-off 
their communicators.  They threw fits of rage at Ami if she took them out of 
commission for even a few minutes for experiments or upgrades.  "What if Sailor 
Moon needed help!" they'd always complain.  
     And so, because Lita and Rei were sometimes a bit paranoid, Ami now 
suspected the work of a new enemy.  The only way Rei could be out of range was 
if she was out of the Solar System, or in a different dimension.
     The evidence seemed to be pointing towards the later.
     In front of Ami stood a large rock.  It was the beginning of a small hill 
that lead up to a group of commercial buildings.  The buildings didn't seem out 
of the ordinary, but the rock did.  It was emitting the bounce-signal, and, 
according to Ami's visor, was surrounded by a separate field of time.
     Around the rock, time was moving about one-thousandth times faster than in 
normal space.  The field of time also seemed to be leaking outwards from a small 
crack in the rock.  
     "I think we've found where the new enemy is broadcasting from." Ami said 
suddenly.

     Lita blinked and peered at the rock suspiciously.  "Are new enemies are 
rocks??"

     "No..." Ami said, calculating a few final details.  "This rock is a point 
where our dimension meets up with theirs."
     Lita poked her finger at the crack.  Nothing happened.  "So what do we do 
now?"
     Ami closed her data book.  "I have no idea." 
     Jupiter rolled back her eyes.  





     
     "I don't like this." Roberts said as Ckay hovered over his shoulder.  They 
were watching a small screen of what was going on outside.  "They found our 
Tokyo dimension-point."
     The screen showed Jupiter rubbing the rock like a magic lamp in hopes of 
activating some kind of doorway.  Mercury stood nearby, trying to figure out how 
to get in as well with her scanners.
     "It is of little concern." Ckay replied.  "We have the traitor, and the 
Scouts already knew of us thanks to Dave long ago.  If they become more of a 
nuance, we will have to kill them."
     Roberts turned to Ckay.  "What?"
     "You heard me." Ckay sighed.  "Do you have a problem with that?"
     "Well, yes!" Roberts said.  "The Scouts are on OUR side, remember?  They're 
protecting Earth!" he crossed his arms and sighed.  "And some of the extended 
timelines we've pulled from the Calculator hinge on their actions 
significantly."
     "And we can take over their job without even lifting a finger." Ckay 
replied.  "We don't need them...but if they threaten us, we will have to get rid 
of them."
     Roberts frowned.
     "This is the new Omega Web." Ckay said.  "We're not going to take any more 
shit from weaklings like Dave and Jhonen.  And I'm certainly not going to be 
told what to do by a bunch of humans who dress up in slutty costumes and shoot 
elemental mish-mosh from their fingers."
     Ckay walked out of the room.  Black stood by the far wall.  His expression 
was one of hidden distaste.
     Roberts gave him a similar look, but turned back to monitoring the Scouts 
outside.  "I don't like it, Black, but maybe it IS time for a change."
     "One thing will always stay the same, Roberts." the old man replied.  
"Jhonen was no traitor...he knew why we were put on this Earth.  To question." 
Black disappeared in a shower of light.  "Question everything...including 
ourselves." his words echoed.
     Roberts ignored him, and kept watching the screen.  "Maybe it's time that 
we stop questioning and started doing something."





     "What's wrong, Dave?" Mina asked finally.
     Rei and Chris were in the corner, continuing to hack into the hopefully 
Outdated computer-port.  Dave had been sitting in the opposite corner with his 
face to the wall ever since they got there.  "I'm just thinking." Dave replied 
after a long pause.
     Mina smiled and edged her seat towards him.  "Really?  What about?"
     "I'm just wondering if this is working." Dave said finally.
     "What's working?  The hack?" Mina asked.
     Dave turned to her.  "No.  I mean the Omega Web."
     Mina shrugged.  "Well, I don't know enough about it to help.  Sorry." she 
said, slumping against the wall.
     "We've been around for over a thousand years." Dave said in a long sigh.  
"And look what we've done...nothing."
     "Well, you saved us." Mina shrugged.  "That's not much, but we're pretty 
grateful for the second chance."
     Dave looked at her with a silly smile.  "I guess, but what you have to 
remember is that it's nothing." his face turned cold again.  "We've wasted our 
lives by doing absolutely nothing for the last millennia and a half.  I suppose 
it was only a matter of time before one of us decided that it wasn't enough and 
took it upon their-selves to change it.  Maybe Ckay's got the right idea."
     Mina frowned at him.  "Ckay's a fucking asshole.  If that's the future of 
Humanity is a return to some kind of 'holier than though' leadership and the 
masses considered below the others, then the Sailor Scouts are fighting for 
nothing." she stood up.  "Maybe it's in our nature to only use our powers when 
needed.  Maybe, the only difference between you and me is that you are forced
to be more human than I am.  If you don't, people will get hurt."
     To her surprise, Dave's eyebrows lowered into a glare.  "What is it that 
you do, Mina?  I mean, what do you Scouts say is your goal?"
     Mina shrugged yet again.  "I guess I'd have to say to fight for love and 
justice and life on Earth."
     "Noble causes." Dave smiled.  He then returned to his corner.  "Perhaps, 
it's one we should take up as well."
     She smiled back and placed a warm hand on his.  "The more, the merrier."





















                                   Chapter 16








     "Luna?"
     The black cat clenched her eyes tighter in hopes that Serena would think 
she was sleeping.
     No such luck.  Serena spotted Luna on her bed, curled up next to a big 
fluffy pillow.  "There you are!" Serena said.  A second later, she picked up 
Luna and was out the door.  
     "Serena!  You meatball head!" Luna gasped.  "I was trying to get some 
sleep!  You're not exactly..."
     "I need your help." Serena said, running downstairs and out the door before 
her family even knew she was gone.
     Luna shrugged.  "What is it now?  Did you lose the Silver Crystal again?"
     Serena shot her a evil look.  "Hey!  I haven't lost it in over a month!  
Quit hassling me about it!"
     Luna sighed and looked around.  "Why are we going to the old Pole-Portal??" 
she asked quickly, reasoning that it would be the only possible explanation for 
Serena's path.  
     "I need to talk to my mom." Serena said firmly.
     "Queen Serenity??" Luna gasped.  She then looked a bit humbled.  "But, but 
I don't know how to get her attention..."
     Serena smiled at her cat companion.  "Whenever there's a cat around, I 
always seem to meet up with her.  I thought: why mess with a good thing?!?" she 
beamed.
     Luna nodded.  "Why do you have to talk with her?  Is it about the stories 
Pluto has been telling you?"
     Serena shook her head. "No...not really.  I just want to help out a 
friend."
     Luna nodded.  "Well, I'll see what I can do."
     They rounded the corner to an abandoned alley-way.  The same one they had 
used to Sailor-Teleport to the North Pole a few years ago.  Serena looked 
around.  "Well, now that we're here, do you have any ideas??"
     Luna looked at the indent the Scouts had left.  "Mmmm, I don't know.  Stand 
in the crater and transform."
     Serena nodded.  "MOON..."
     She was about to complete the sentence, when she was covered in a warm beam 
of white light.  She recognized it as the same light that had transported the 
Scouts to the moon what seemed like a lifetime ago.  
     Luna watched Serena disappear.  "Mmm, maybe there IS something about us 
cats." She smiled.  "Say 'Hi' for me!" she called after.







     Silence.

     Serena woke up in Sailor Moon-form.  A quick glance around her showed that 
she was lying on a rock on the moon.  Three crumbling pillars stood nearby, 
still charred from the Negaverse's attack.  
     She looked up at the Earth and smiled.  It wasn't very often she got to see 
it from this point of view.  It all seemed so much simpler from this distance.  
It was just a blue version of the moon, a little bigger and swirled with white.  
     "Beautiful, isn't it?" A familiar voice startled her.
     "Mom?" Serena turned to see Queen Serenity's ghostly image, hovering about 
a foot above the ground.  
     "Yes, darling." she smiled.  "It's wonderful to see you again."
     Serena nodded.  "I have come to ask you a few questions." she said, 
unusually straight-to-the-point.
     Serenity shrugged, but seemed pleased at her daughter's ability to take 
charge.  "Okay, what do you need to know?"
     "Why did you send us to Earth in two separate groups?" Sailor Moon asked.  
"The ones in Tokyo, then the ones over in Canada."

     "Oh...that..." the Queen coughed.

     Serena sighed.  "Mooooommmm...I need to know."
     Serenity hovered silently for a moment.  "I assume you've met up with them, 
then.  Either that, or Pluto must have told you the stories."
     Serena sat straight on the rock she had materialized on.  "Both, actually."
     "Let me guess, Andrea's still after Darien." Serenity sighed heavily.
     "She was." Serena replied.  "But we're getting married when I turn 
eighteen, and she backed off."
     Serenity's eyes filled with a happy glimmer.  "Oh!  Serena!  Thank the 
heavens!  You two are finally engaged."
     Serena beamed, wishing she could have hugged the apparition, but content 
just to share the news.  "Thanks, mom."
     "Well, okay," Serenity continued.  "If you must know, I thought that she 
was getting too close to Prince Darien, and I wanted you to have separate lives 
on Earth...just in case you had to become Scouts again."
     Serena was quiet for a long time...unsure of what to say next.
     Her old mother must have seen this.  "It was better that you be surrounded 
By your...permanent court...if you had to begin fighting back on Earth." she 
explained.
     "But..." Serena started.  "Chris and Maury too?"
     "Maury?  Prince of Sun?" Serenity sighed.  "Too unpredictable...and he 
isn't the kind to take orders.  Quite frankly, I don't think having that kind of 
ability should be given to that kind of person.  As for Prince Saturn? He's not 
even one of us."  
     Serena frowned.  "They've saved my life.  Even Andrea, on more than one 
occasion."
     Serenity's turn to be silent.
     "Pluto was telling us a bit about the past." she continued.  "And I'd like 
you help."
     The image of Serenity smiled.  "Anything, daughter."
     "I'd like you to make Andrea a Sailor Scout."
     Serenity's face dropped.  "What??"
     "Andrea has been a loyal guardian, and friend." Serena smiled.  "We've 
gotten off to a rocky start, but now that Darien's mine, she's settled down and 
been a great part of the team!" 
     Serenity nodded.  "I'll consider it."
     Serena's eyes narrowed.  "Mom...?  Pleeeeeeeeeeeezzzzee?"
     Queen Serenity smiled.  "Okay, okay...I never could say 'no' to you." she 
sighed lightly. "Return to Earth, and give Andrea's...um...pin, is it?"
     Serena nodded.
     "Okay, give it to Luna.  Tell her to upgrade it into a Crystal Wand." the 
queen smiled.  "I promise it will be powered."
     Serena beamed.  "Thank you mother." she smiled goofily.  "You're the best 
dead mom from the moon a girl ever had!"
     The Queen shook her head with a laugh.  "Nice to see you too, honey."
     Sailor Moon walked back to the stone she had appeared on, and was enveloped 
by white light.  A second later, she was gone.
     The ghostly image of Queen Serenity stood for a moment after.  "Visit 
anytime you want, my darling daughter."

     With a similar flash of light, the ghost was gone.  The moon was again 
alone.  











                                



                                   Chapter 17







     The sun had begun to set.  Even so, the two Sailor Scouts who appeared to 
be guarding a harmless rock, had not left in fear of missing something. 
     "I can't get in touch with Mina, either." Lita scowled as Ami continued 
scanning the rock.  "And I can't help but notice it's doing the same thing as 
Rei's communicator."
     Ami nodded.  "So we can assume that Rei and Mina are in the Omega Web 
somewhere.  That's the only thing out of the ordinary that's happened this 
week."
     "You think Ckay could have captured them?" Lita asked, straightening out 
her skirt.
     "I'd say it's very possible." 
     "So then why don't we just blast though this freakin rock and NUKE SOME 
ASS!?!" Lita demanded.  "They've got our friends!"
     "Yes, but we don't know if they're just visiting Dave or what's going on." 
Ami sighed.  "Besides, I doubt our attacks could break through this rock.  It's 
protected by something...probably a lot more advanced than we've seen."
     Lita's excitement died down.  "So?  What do we do now?"
     "Well, I'm not sure, but if we can get Sailor Moon and her crystal down 
here, it might just have an effect on it." Ami said.  She then remembered back a 
year and a half ago.  "But considering that Dave actually controlled the 
crystal's power-level back when the Lords attacked, it's doubtful it could do 
much."
     Lita blinked.  "So what you're saying is the best we've got may not be 
enough?"
     Ami nodded sadly.  "What we need isn't power...rather the right KIND of 
power.  Not an easy task when you're up against the Omega Web.  I've gone 
through my entire database of power sources and energy emission types, and 
nothing looks like it could open up this doorway."
     Lita growled.  "What we need is a good jackhammer.  Give one of them 
suckers five minutes, and before you know it, we'll have a gateway large enough 
to shove a bus up Ckay's ass."
     "I'm going to call the others." Ami smiled.  "Maybe they'll have an idea."






     Roberts watched uneasily as he looked at the readouts on Ami's computer.  
"I don't like this, Ckay.  They're narrowing it down."
     "They still don't even know it's our Tokyo outlet." Ckay smiled.  "But I 
understand your fears." he paused for a moment.  He tried not to act too hastily 
now that the Point Calculator was off line.  No predictions of the future to 
help.  "I'll tell you what.  Take Uhgt out to the city and destroy Sailor 
Pluto."
     "What?" Roberts asked.  "Are you crazy?"
     Ckay ignored the comment, but gave Roberts a cold glare.  "Fine.  Take out 
Uranus and Neptune as well.  Make it look like a non-specific attack.  We don't 
want the others to stumble onto the answer."
     Roberts was forced to nod.
     "Make sure Pluto doesn't try anything time-related, okay?" Ckay sighed.  
"The last thing we need is her bouncing back and fourth without a reliable means 
to track her."





     To everyone's request, Chris had turned on the CD-player in his laptop.  
Currently, it was playing "Magic Carpet Ride."  Rei mentioned it was appropriate 
considering they were basically floating in the middle of nowhere.  Mina had 
offered it up as well as...well...the general mood was getting to everyone. 
     "It's not being locked up that bugs me." Rei said.  "It's knowing that 
we're alone in some stupid half-universe, and escape is impossible."
     Mina nodded.  "Well, at least we don't have to worry about gang-rape in the 
showers."
     Rei rolled back her eyes with a laugh.  "You're too horny for your own 
good, Mina."
     Chris smiled from behind his computer.  "You should talk, Rei."
     Rei shot him a glare.  "I didn't hear YOU complaining."
     "True...very true." Chris smiled, raising his hand in a "peace" symbol.  
     Mina coughed.  "You can't prove it was me who walked into the boy's shower 
at school." she giggled.  "Three times...accidentally, of course."
     Chris suddenly turned off the music.
     Everyone turned to him.  "What is it?" Rei asked hopefully.
     Chris looked up from his computer.  "It's working." he said slowly.  Then, 
More excitedly.  "It's FREAKIN' WORKING! HAHAA!"
     Dave jumped to his feet.  "WHAT??"
     Chris smiled evilly. "I couldn't have done it without you!"
     "I...I don't understand!" Dave asked as Mina and Rei began jumping up and 
down happily.
     "You remember that huge virus you sent into my computer?" Chris explained. 
"Well, for the past year, I was able to recover it and pick up some of your 
programming language."
     Dave blinked.
     Chris sighed.  "Although it was huge, and I've only discovered about two 
percent of it, I was able to rewrite the virus to penetrate your older defences.  
Instead of erasing itself, it will erase the security blocks." he smiled.  
"Don't worry.  I'm not THAT smart.  If I could do that on my own, I'd be living 
next to Bill Gates shooting golf balls into his yard."
     Dave was literally speechless.  "What do you have?" he finally asked.
     Chris pointed at the screen.  "Well, I don't know yet.  You see, the virus 
is gigantic, and my little hard drive is spewing it off as fast as it can, but 
it's still going to take about an hour before it takes hold and nukes the 
security barriers."
     Dave nodded.  "Okay.  From what I remember, you should have access to
communications and general information timetables." he smiled.  "With 
communications, that will be all we need."
     Chris stood up.  "Okay.  My laptop's got a microphone, so you should be 
able to operate
your main computer right through mine."
     Rei leapt at him and gave him a warm hug.  "Once we're out, let's nuke Ckay 
together."
     Dave shook his head.  "No...he's my responsibility."
     Mina smiled. 
     "You guys have been right all along. It's time to start defending humanity, 
and not just treat you like a hobby."
     Chris grinned.  "I'm one of them balsa-wood gliders.  Rei over here is an 
HO scale dump truck."
     Rei frowned.  "Dump truck?  You better sleep with one eye open tonight, 
bucko."
     He cringed.  















 



                                 Chapter 18








     Haruka reached over to the sugar and sprinkled a good two shakes in her 
tea.  Sharon, who was sitting across from her, smiled. "You okay?  That's your 
third tea now."
     Haruka shrugged, ignoring her friend's comment and taking a large sip. 
      Michiru frowned.  "What's wrong?  You've been acting like this ever since 
we faced off with Galaxia."
     "I don't know." Haruka grumbled.  "Not enough caffeine."
     The three outer Scouts who normally sat in the local coffee-shop ever 
afternoon were also joined by their fellow Scout, Hotaru.  "If you guys don't 
want me here, just say so." she said, trying to be polite.  "I know I don't 
usually hang out with you..."
     "Oh, no!  Stay!" Haruka said.  "I'm sorry, I've just been a bit 
preoccupied."
     Sharon nodded.  "Yes. In fact, we invited you here, remember?" she smiled. 
"All work and no tea makes the Scouts a dull bunch of girls." 
     The sun had begun to set a while ago, and the sky outside their table's 
window was amazing. The four seemed to all realize this at the same time and sat 
back to enjoy the view.
     Some time passed, and a car whizzing by finally knocked Hotaru out of the 
gaze. "So, it's spring break.  What do you all want to do?" she asked, gulping 
down her tea quickly.
     "Well, with fighting Galaxia and everything," Michiru sighed, "I'm just 
going to relax.  Maybe take up a concert."
     "I've been thinking of spending some time with my sister." Sharon replied.  
She looked at Hotaru.  "Maybe you should do the same.  Catch up on things with 
Chris.  I doubt they'll be here more than another week."
     Hotaru got pale...more than usual.  "I...we...I mean, we don't exactly get 
along."
     "Why's that?" Michiru asked, gingerly swirling around the contents of her 
cup.  "You haven't seen each other for any extended period of time for more than 
a millennia."
     "Well," Hotaru sighed.  "I kind of kicked him off Saturn."
     "Well, I doubt he was too shaken by that." Sharon shrugged. "I thought he 
said he liked Enceladus." she put down her tea. "But when we first met at the 
old apartment, he looked like he was about ready to kick your ass."
     "Yes, well, I also hired a few...uhm...supporters to assassinate him."
     The three all dropped their cups simultaneously.  "What??"
     "I wasn't myself at the time." Hotaru explained.  "Luckily, they failed, 
though Chris still wasn't too thrilled about it."
      "Well, I say it serves him right." Haruka smiled.  "I'm sick of his damn 
'Uranus' jokes."
     "Still, I don't think he likes me.  Even now." Hotaru sighed.  "I can't 
blame him, I guess." she shrugged.  "I guess we're kind of the ultimate sibling 
rivalry."
     The conversation was cut short by a sheet of paper. No...not the check, 
rather a small, business-card-sized slip of paper materialized directly in front 
of Sharon's tea.
     Everyone was wide-eyed.  "You all just saw that...didn't you?" Hotaru 
asked, scared she had just gone crazy.
     Sharon picked it up quickly, making sure it didn't draw attention from 
anyone else in the coffee shop.  "It says 'Come to the bus-stop on the other 
side of the street.  The security of your identity depends on it.'"
     They all blinked.
     Sharon looked across the street.  Nobody was there.  She slowly stood up 
and put down her share of the bill.  
     "You're not actually going, are you?" Hotaru asked in surprise.  "What if 
it's the Omega Web?"
     "They're on our side, remember?" Sharon replied.  "I'm sure it's nothing.  
They have a flare for getting our attention."
     "Flare my ass!" Haruka growled.  "That was a threat!  I'm going too!"
"So much for a relaxing evening." Michiru sighed, then downed the rest of her 
tea.  "Hotaru, honey, you go home.  It might not be safe." 
     "What?" Hotaru gasped. "I'm coming too!  You just said it was probably 
nothing anyway.  No way am I just going to run off when things might be getting 
interesting!"
     Haruka shook her head. "We can handle it.  We're only worried that the 
battle might get too crowded with you there, and we'd end up hitting you by 
accident."
     "So what you're saying is that I'm in the way!" Hotaru said with a frown. 
     Sharon sighed.  "Let her come.  She's a Scout, and she can think for her 
self." she walked out the door.
     "Thank you." Hotaru said with a heap of sarcasm.  She followed.
     Haruka turned to Michiru.  "Let's keep an eye out for the little sprout."
     Michiru nodded.

     Sharon knew this wasn't just a friendly "hello" from the Omega Web, but 
what else was she supposed to do.  If someone wanted to fight her, then at least 
it would be outside and not in a coffee shop full of innocent people.
     She wasted no time.  As soon as she was clear of the shop and the street 
was empty, she transformed.  "Pluto Planet POWER!"
     "Uranus Planet Power!"
     "Neptune Planet Power!"
     "Saturn Planet Power!"
     They all finished transforming and continued across the street.  "Where are 
they?" Saturn asked.
     "I don't like this..." Uranus mentioned.  They were now in a small parking 
lot across from a grocery store.  It was pretty quiet because of the time, 
thankfully.  
     A small spark of light that at first appeared to be a star, began to come 
closer. Eventually, it became a bowling-ball sized light, and hovered a metre 
off the ground.
     "Omega Web?" Neptune asked.
     The ball dropped to the ground like a ball of sand, then materialized into 
a human wearing a black and dark green suit.  It looked vaguely like something 
from 'Star Trek' or maybe some male fashion from the runways of Paris or New 
York.  It could have been, but Pluto had no time to admire the man's suit.  He 
took three steps toward her, then uttered the words: 

     "Sorry about this.  I have no choice in the matter."

     Before they could react, the man glanced at Saturn.  Her body was suddenly 
hurtled into the air at a terrific speed.   "SATURN!" they all yelled.
     "I don't have to hurt her.  Don't worry, I'll make sure she sets down 
safely a few blocks from here." the man said.  "As I said, I'm truly sorr..."
     Uranus took the man by surprise and launched the fastest "World Shaking!" 
attack the others had ever seen.  It tore up the ground as it sped forward.  
Luckily, the man had no time to move, and was hit in the chest.  "YEAH!" Uranus 
cheered.  "That's what you get for messing with our friend!"
     Her victory-speech was cut short when the dust cleared and showed the man; 
standing unscathed.  "Please don't do that." he sighed. "You might miss and hit 
some poor kid or dog or something." he pointed his hand at Uranus, then shot out 
a red ball of energy.       
     It hit her in the back as she tried to dodge, flinging her into a nearby 
car's windshield.  She landed with a heart-wrenching CRASH!!  Neptune and Pluto 
were momentarily stunned.  It was the Galaxia fight all over again.  All their 
powers were just shoved down by a casual force.  
     One by one, each of them were about to die.
     "You bastard!" Neptune gasped.  She pulled out her mirror.  "Fine.  You 
want a fight?  Let's make it a fair one!"
     Her mirror shot out a bright ray of light at the man.  Unfortunately, no 
part of him began to glow, showing a weakness they could exploit.  For all 
intensive purposes, he was invincible.  
     Neptune just stood there, helpless as she was hit by a second ball of 
energy.  It flattened her to the ground without even trying.  A small trickle of 
blood rolled out of her mouth, followed by her coughing.  She wasn't dead, but 
unless Pluto could do better, she would be.  
     "Who the hell are you!?  Why are you fighting us?" Pluto demanded, holding 
her staff in front of her.  Her usual calm nature was now cracking.  
     "Unfortunately, we used to be on your side." Roberts said.  "It looks 
different now. I'm sorry, and although it's a cliche', I AM just following 
orders." he pointed his hand at Pluto for a final strike.
     "Dead..." Pluto spun around, charging her staff, "scream..."
     To Robert's surprise, their two attacks fired at the exact same time.  That 
in itself wasn't that surprising, but when Pluto's Dead-Scream hit his energy 
ball, it froze it in time.

     Hovering between the two was a glowing red orb of energy.

     At first, the two just stood there, stunned.  Finally, Pluto raised her 
staff in the air. "You're about two seconds away from me getting mad.  I suggest 
you leave while we're both alive."
     Roberts turned his gaze from the energy collision back to Pluto.  "I can't 
do that." He muttered.  
     Two more energy balls came screaming towards Pluto.  She dodged the first 
And deflected the second away like a baseball with her staff.  It shot into the 
air, narrowly missing a passenger jet overhead.  "Not this time!" she yelled.  
"I've had enough fighting to last a lifetime, if not more!" she aimed once again 
at Roberts.  "Pluto...Dead..." her voice raised slowly "SCREAM!" she yelled.
     Normally, all she had to do was whisper the last word.  This time was 
different.  She put everything into her attack.  Every bit of power she could 
into it.
     It shot forward at near light-speed.  Roberts and Pluto didn't even see it 
until it had slammed into him.
     An amazing purple light lit up the sunset-sky for blocks.  The impact threw 
Roberts off his feet and into the food-store on the other side of the parking 
lot.  
     Roberts smashed through the window and skidded down the frozen-foods isle 
until he hit the back wall and made a sizable indent in the brick.  He got to 
his feet.  

     "Oww." he growled.

     Back outside, Pluto had run over to help Uranus.  She was still alive as 
well, and if only she could call a hospital, they would be alright.  
     Not even calling the hospital would be an alternative.  Roberts was walking 
slowly back towards her.  He did not look pleased over being thrown through the 
wall, but he also looked as fresh as a spring day.  Pluto noticed this and 
swallowed hard. 
     "I'd appreciate that you don't do that again." Roberts yelled.  
     Three slivers of red light shot out from his hand, slamming into the ground 
in front of Pluto.  She backed up, but stayed close to Uranus and Neptune.  
"Please, just let me save them." Pluto begged.  "You said you only wanted me."
     Roberts growled.  "I have orders." He concentrated briefly.  
     Sharon began to hover above the ground.  "Hey!" she gasped, dropping her 
staff.  She tried to grope for it but she just spun around like she was in zero 
gravity.  
     "Why not...it worked for the Lords and your friend.  I'll just make sure 
you don't land so softly." Roberts sighed. "I'll get you up enough speed so it's 
quick."
     Pluto gasped as air began to fly past her face.  She sped upwards.  All she 
could take in was the tears in her eyes as she tried to keep them open.  She 
went through a cloud over a mile high in a matter of half a second.  Everything 
was moving too fast.  She had to concentrate.  Something...she had to remember 
an old spell.

     Maybe...from another time...
  
     Andrea returned to see the people of the Moon being carefully lifted into 
the air in tiny bubbles.  The Silver Crystal had been activated.  "Darien?  
Where are you?"
     She found him, all right...just not how she had hoped to.  His body was 
just lifting into the air now.  Andrea gasped, gingerly touching the dome, "NO!"
     All was gone.  There was nothing left, and she couldn't go on like that.  
She held her broach above her head, "By the power of PLUTO!  I call upon the 
ultimate destruction program!"  She glanced up at Darien's lifeless body, "We 
will meet again."  Her spell immediately took effect and her body collapsed to 
the ground.  A bubble quickly enveloped her body as well, and she rose into 
space.
     Serenity, using her last bit of energy, made certain that the cats would be 
there to help the Scouts, should the Negaverse return...and that Andrea and 
Darien would be no where near each other.
          Sharon sat in the rubble of the Moon Kingdom, sobbing.  All was lost; 
her sister, her friends...everything.  Now there was only silence.  She took a 
deep breath, looking off into the distance.  She was alone now, and who knew for 
how long.

     Wooosh!

     A side-wind brought her out of her recollection.  "Then let's do it." she 
growled.  "By the power of Pluto."  She smiled.  "Andrea never could get it 
quite right."  
     She suddenly stopped in mid air.  The sudden negative g-force almost made 
her lose her lunch.  "Oh come on..." she gulped.  "I'm trying to do a spell 
here!"  She sighed as she began to fall.  
     This time, it was just gravity pulling her.  That gave her more time.  
     "PLUTO!" she yelled, manoeuvring herself to face the ground.  "ULTIMATE
DESTRUCTION PROGRAM!"
     A green sphere formed around her with a loud energetic "SNAP!"  
     Sharon continued.  "Take me out of time!  Protect Sailor Uranus and Sailor 
Neptune!"
     She cleared a cloud and could now see the ground quite clearly.  A shiver 
came over her.  She continued with an unsteady voice as the ground came closer 
by the second.  

     "TIME-SLIP!"

     Roberts watched out of the corner of his eye.  He didn't really want to see 
Sailor Pluto being smeared into the ground, but had to make sure she did.  What 
he didn't expect was to see a green ball falling through the clouds instead of 
Sailor Pluto.  "What the hell?"
     The ball grew closer and closer.  Eventually, he saw that it was going to 
hit Neptune and Uranus.  It was some kind of time bubble!  
     He glanced at her staff.  The talisman on top was glowing a bright green.  
"How'd she use time without...fuck."
     Roberts shot out a bolt at the talisman, causing it to snap apart in 
two...but still glowing despite an impressive explosion.  He looked back up at 
Pluto.  She was still surrounded by her orb.  Not only that, but she was now a 
second away.  "Shit..."
     Pluto slammed into the mini-van she had propped Uranus and Neptune up 
against.  Instead of a bloody mess, though, a green shockwave hit, enveloping 
the entire area.  Roberts was thrown back, unable to stand his ground against 
the ripple in time.  
     Green sparks showered everything in a green-white light.  As Roberts sat 
up, all he could see was a small ball of energy hovering in the middle of a 
melted mini-van.  
     He sighed.  "I hate time." he got to his feet.  "Why can't it be like 
everything else?  Nice and predictable?"
     Roberts tried to touch the ball with his hand, but his hand passed through 
it like it wasn't even there.  As strange as it seemed, the ball wasn't really 
there.  At least not in the universe...not any more.

     Roberts frowned, turned, and dissolved into the customary shower of light.

     Well, he tried...




















                                Chapter 19






     Andrea gasped as a sudden wave of panic gripped her.  She had felt like 
this before...a long time ago.  "The ultimate..." she gasped.  "Sharon!"
     She literally jumped to her feet in the middle of the park, scaring the 
shit out of two little old ladies who were feeding the ducks nearby.  She ran 
past them and off into the street before she wondered where she was running to.  
She stopped in front of a bus stop.  "Perfect."  The temple bus would only be a 
few minutes away.
     Why would her sister call upon the Ultimate Destruction Program?  It was 
the darkest, most unpredictable time-spell in the volumes of known magic.  
Sharon herself swore she'd never use it to it's full potentials, no matter how 
useful, even if there was no other choice. 
     It involved taking one's spirit out of time.  It varied to different 
degrees depending on the commands used.  For instance, at least in Andrea's 
case, it was an effective way to kill yourself.  Not exactly a noble 
enchantment, but it proved to have a purpose occasionally.  Especially when
you extended the spell's power to take out nearby enemies with you.  When one's 
soul was out of time, the caster could do things that normal magic would not 
allow.  You could fight a war in a blink of an eye, change the substance of the 
world and energy, and transport as easily as imagining a new location to be in.  
     Andrea's "Ground Zero" attack was basically just a watered-down version of 
the U.D.P., that reversed itself to only harm what the caster wanted to.    
     Used properly, it was also able to provide shelter out of time...stasis, 
for instance...but conditions for returning were hardly desirable.  Someone 
outside had to bring the person back.  Andrea was hoping this was the case, 
because then her sister was still alive, and had a chance of being 
brought back.
     The bus arrived, and she boarded it in a heart-beat.  She continued 
thinking as it continued on it's route to the temple.  Then again, Sharon DID 
say she'd never rely on it in that way.  That meant she might have just killed 
herself.  Andrea began to worry. 
     






     A low vibration woke Rei up.  "What the hell?" she asked, looking around.
     Chris was desperately trying to pack away his computer.  "Help me!  Hurry!" 
he said, trying to undo the connections he made with the wall-port. 
     "Ckay's summoning the cell into the Web's dimension.  He's coming in." Dave
explained.  "If he sees Chris' laptop hooked to the wall we can forget about our 
plans."
     Rei nodded and began un-twisting the wires.  "Is the virus uploaded?"
     "Yes," Chris said, powering down his computer and stowing it on his back.  
"But we'll need the link later if we want to have computer access."
     The cell stopped vibrating just as Rei nudged the port's wall-covering back 
into place.  She had just enough time to shove the connecting wire into one of 
the folds of her skirt when a ball of light lit up the room and materialized 
into Ckay.  
     He looked around at the four crouching in the corners.  A smile lit up his 
face.  "I trust you've enjoyed your food for the evening."
     "Not as much as we'll enjoy showing you your own intestines!" Chris quipped 
with a grin.

     Ckay shot him a glare.  

     An invisible force grabbed Chris by the neck and lifted him up against the 
wall.  "I must admit, even I have my limits when it comes to your little 
comebacks, Prince of Saturn." he growled under his breath.
     Chris couldn't breath, but he stood his ground.  Rei was about to jump up 
when Dave motioned for her to stop.  Dave stood.  "We had a deal, Ckay...if you 
hurt him, or any of the Scouts, I'll make sure it's not worth your effort."
     Ckay stood, looking at Dave for a moment.  A bluff?  Perhaps, but hardly 
one he need to risk right now.  "Mmmm, I suppose I could withstand a few 
more...for my old buddy Dave, at least." he smiled.
     Chris dropped to the ground with a cough.  
     "Now, are you here on business, or are you enjoying harassing Avatars of 
the Planets?" Dave said, hardly hiding the disgust in his voice.
     "Can't I do both?" Ckay smiled, looking at Chris.  "Though I suppose I am 
here on a side-project."
     "Get on with it.  At least the sooner you fuck up the Omega Web, the sooner 
we'll either die or you let us go." Dave said.
     Ckay raised an eyebrow.  "Oh, don't worry.  You'll all live...after all, 
death is too much fun for Dave to enjoy." he sighed.  "And you Scouts are hardly 
a concern."
     "But, Mina, on the other hand, you are a concern." he added. 
     Mina swallowed hard.  "Me??"
     Ckay nodded.  "I would like for you to accompany me outside the cell.  We 
have much to discuss."
     Mina looked at everyone else.  "Uhm..."
     "I won't harm or mistreat her in any way." Ckay added.  "Any time you wish 
to leave, say so, and it shall be done." he smiled.  "But if I know you, you're 
wondering what is possessing me to offer such a situation in the first place."
     Mina blinked.  He was right.  She knew he had a "thing" for her, but this 
was in a different context than a romantic meeting.  Also, if she kept Ckay 
busy, that would give Chris and Dave more time to hack the Web's computer.  She 
shrugged nervously.  "Okay...I'll go with you."
     Ckay smiled.  "Wonderful."
     Dave growled.  "Remember your promise, Ckay.  No matter what you think, I 
Am perfectly capable of making you regret not killing me."
     "Done." Ckay said.  He and Mina vaporized into balls of light and were 
whisked away through the walls.
     The second he was gone and the cell began to move back into it's own 
dimension, Chris knocked out the wall panel and began setting up his computer 
again.
     Rei walked over to Dave.  "Will she be alright?"
     Dave nodded.  "Whatever humanity Ckay has, he'll use it in the presence of 
Mina.  Hopefully, that's enough to make him keep his word."
     Rei frowned.  "If her safety relies on his humanity, then we're all in big 
trouble."

     Lita hadn't moved from her pose for the last hour.  She had her standard 
arms-crossed, pissed-off, ready-to-kill look to her...but she was cornered into 
doing nothing.  
     Mina hadn't responded on her communicator either, and it was definitely the 
same thing that was blocking communications with Rei.  For some odd reason, 
Sailor Moon was temporarily unreachable too.  Ami smiled as she saw that 
Serena's communicator signal was finally registering.  "I got Moon." she 
announced.
     "Right on." Lita said, staying in her pissy-mood.
     "You know, I just realized that a rather large chunk of our team don't have
communicators." Ami said.  "Chris, Maury, Darien, Andrea...I guess we could make 
them some later on."





     
     Andrea arrived at the temple as Maury was helping Grandpa rake leaves.  
"Hey, Mo...we gotta talk." she said quickly.
     Grandpa sighed.  "You kids!  Always running off to discuss your secret 
clubs!"
     Maury smiled.  "Sorry, Grandpa...I'll make sure to make up for the 
interruption."
     Maury and Andrea ran off down the stairs.  Grandpa frowned.  "Speaking of
chores...where's Rei today?"

     Maury stopped Andrea as they reached street-level.  "Okay, so what's up?"
     "Pluto's in trouble." Andrea said, shivering.  "And I don't have my 
transformation-pin."
     Maury blinked.  "What????"
     Andrea frowned.  "I resigned as a Scout this evening." she paused.  "But my 
sister needs
help, and you're the only one I can find."
     Maury smiled.  "Glad to see I'm so high on your list."
     Andrea drug him by the arm down the street.  "Come on...I think I can 
find..."
     Serena's meatballs appeared on the horizon.
     Andrea's face sunk.  "I don't need this right now."
     Serena's eyes widened and she smiled as she came up to them.  "Andrea!  
Andrea!  I have something for you!!!"
     "Come on." Andrea growled.  "You can help too."
     She continued to drag Maury down the street.  Serena stopped, short of 
breath.  "Oh come on..." she gasped.  "WAIT UP!!!!" 















                                 Chapter 20








     Mina walked down the hallway slightly behind Ckay.  It was possible they 
were walking down the corridor to another continent, but she tried to remain 
calm.  "I'm curious," she said suddenly, breaking the sounds of their footsteps.  
"Where exactly are we going?"
     "I just wanted to show you around a bit, that's all." Ckay smiled.  "And I 
have a little surprise I've been working on just for you."
     Mina raised her eyebrows.  "For me???"
     "Yes, but I don't want to spoil the surprise just yet." Ckay replied 
happily.  "For now, a tour will be the main attraction."
     "Oh...okay..." Mina shrugged.  "Why me?  I mean, I'm obviously the best 
looking Sailor Scout, and the most talented, and the best dresser, and the..." 
she began rambling off happily, eyes growing wider.
     "You seem to know already." Ckay smiled back.  "Besides, I already told you 
before, I've liked you for a while now."
     Mina blinked.  "But you agreed that we were..."
     "Incompatible?" Ckay said.  "Yes.  We are on two separate 
levels...however..." he stopped.  "Oh no...I'm not going to tell you just yet, 
after all, that would ruin the surprise later on!" 

     It was right about then that Mina started to really worry.     







     "How's it going?" Rei asked.
     Chris looked up from his laptop.  "We lost one of the wires when we pulled 
out, but I've fixed the connection.  I'll have to re-load a part of the virus, 
though."
     "How big a piece?" Dave asked.  
     "About a hundred and three megabytes." Chris sighed.  "You think we'll have 
about three minutes?"
     "Do it.  We have to risk it." Dave nodded.
     Chris started the upload.  "One thing that bugs me is exactly what we're 
going to do once we have access."
     Dave nodded.  "First of all, we're going to see what's been going on.  
Luckily, when Ckay forced me to restore the computer, it meant he was going to 
use it.  Whatever he's doing, we're going to find out and stop him."
     "How?" Rei asked.  "Even you can be outnumbered.  How many do you think he 
has on his side?  Fifty?  Hell, even the four or so we're sure of could easily 
cause problems for us.  Ckay's not stupid."
     Dave smiled.  "You're right.  He's something even better."
     "What would that be?" Rei said after thinking a bit.
     "He thinks he's in love." Dave said.  "And although that is generally a 
dangerous thing when emotions take control of such power, it also means he can 
slip-up and make mistakes."
     "Of course...that's why you let Mina go with him!" Rei smiled. "He won't 
hurt the woman he loves..." she paused.  "Hopefully, anyway..."
     "Half done." Chris piped up.  "It's still going to take an hour or so for 
it to replicate into enough systems, though.  Even then, only into unprotected 
areas."
     "We were overhauling our virus-checkers last month." Dave said.  "Because 
of a new system we've been using with the Point Calculator, it's only designed 
to destroy viruses without the Omega Web coding.  Luckily, you kept the 
original, and it should pass undetected."
     A shudder.  The cell was changing dimensions again.  Rei was about to help 
Chris pull out the wires when he stopped her.  "No!  It's not done!  Wait a few 
more seconds!"
     Dave stood up.  "This is going to be close...we've already changed 
dimensions."
     "Why don't we just take him out when he comes?" Rei asked. "We can rush the 
guards, and even if they contain us, then we still have control over the 
computers!"
     "Because you're friends are still out there...along with mine." Dave said.  
"We have to make sure they're safe before we attack."
     Two balls of light entered the room through the floor.  One began to 
materialize into Mina.  Ckay, however, left.  His "ball" was just there to 
escort her inside.  Chris, Dave and Rei all breathed a sigh of relief as they 
saw Mina was happy and healthy.
     "What happened?" Rei asked eagerly.  "Did he try anything?  If he did, I'll 
kick his ass!"
     Mina smiled.  "No no no, he was a perfect gentleman."

     Their faces dropped.  

     "All he did was show me around the Omega Web." she continued.  "I'm sorry 
to say this, Dave, but it looks like he has everyone's support."
     Dave nodded, and sighed.
     "That's a lot of god-like-beings to try and defeat."  Chris sighed as the 
virus finished it's upload.
     "Did you see Jhonen anywhere?" Dave asked.  "How about an old guy...Dr. 
Black.  I would have thought at least HE would have resisted..."
     Mina shook her head.  "I didn't see any older members, sorry." she sighed.  
"And I asked about Jhonen.  Ckay has him locked up in another cell somewhere... 
just like us." she shrugged.  "I guess birds of a feather do what the monkeys 
do."

     They all blinked.

     "I think that's "Birds of a feather flock together," and "Monkey-see 
monkey-do"." Rei corrected her.
     "Whatever." She smiled in response.  "So, I'm hungry, did this box 
replicate any more of those jelly-cubes?"
     






     "We're kind of busy right now." Serena sighed.
     Ami's face was on her wrist-communicator.  "This is really important, 
Serena.  I think we've found out where Rei, Mina and Chris are.  They're in the 
Omega Web."
     "Really?  I hadn't noticed them missing!" Serena gasped.
     Ami's eyes narrowed.  "Nobody's seen them since last night."
     "Oh..." Serena blinked and began to giggle.  
     "ANYway," Ami cut her off "we need your help to see if we can crack the 
entrance to the Web."
     "Andrea's leading us around town, she says that Sailor Pluto is in trouble.  
We have to find out first." Serena said.  "We'll contact you once we know more."
     "Okay, we're by the old hospital on fourth-street.  There's a grassy hill 
behind it.  Come once you're done.  We'll be here all night if we have to."
     Serena nodded. 
     "Mercury out." Ami replied and terminated the call.
     Serena closed her watch and continued to follow Andrea and Maury.  "Ami 
says she needs help.  Are we almost done here?"
     Andrea gave her a look of disgust.  "My sister could be dead.  Would you 
mind concentrating on that for a moment?"
     "I would if I knew where the HELL you were leading us!" Serena retorted.
     Andrea pointed.  "There."
     Across the street was a small glowing light.  A crowd was gathered around 
it.  A few brave people tried to touch it, only to find that their hands would 
go right through it as if it wasn't there.
     Andrea recognized it immediately.  "She's not dead!" she said happily.  
"It's the U.D.P., but she used it's shell-mode!"
     Maury nodded like he understood.  "Uh...yeah.  Now what do we do?"
     Andrea's enthusiasm dropped.  "Uh...I'm not sure..."
     "Well, first of all, let's get these people out of the way." Maury said.  
He concentrated for a moment.  "Watch this...I've been practicing!" he 
snickered.  
     A dark "cloud" began forming around the crowd.  It wasn't smoke, but rather 
an absence of light.  Maury concentrated a bit harder, and the cloud began to 
expand.  Obviously, this scared the hell out of the crowd, and they ran for 
dear-life.
     "Come on." Maury said happily, trying not to boast.  "That should keep the 
people out of the way for a while."
     "Cool." Andrea smiled.  "Can you change traffic lights too?"
     "Yup!" Maury smiled evilly.  "You'd be surprised how many green-lights I 
hit!" he paused.  "Though I think my powers of prediction have something to do 
with it."
     Andrea walked up to the black cloud.  Maury whisked it away with a thought, 
and the tiny ball of light reappeared.  "Hello??" she called out into the light.  
"Sharon?"
     "Andrea?" her sister replied.  Her voice seemed distant, but it was coming 
from somewhere within the glowing ball.  "Thanks for coming, what took you so 
long?" she joked.
     "Shut up..." Andrea replied with a smirk.
     "I'll talk with you later.  Right now, you have to help me out of here.  
Neptune and Uranus are hurt, and I fear that if we don't get them to a hospital 
soon, they might die." Pluto explained.  "We were attacked by someone from the 
Omega Web."
     Everyone gasped.  
     "Why did we just gasp?" Maury asked after a moment.  "I mean, Ami already 
told us the Omega Web was involved."
     "Sorry." Serena smiled.  "I've been watching too much Anime."
     "Me too." Andrea smiled.  "I love melodrama!"
     Sharon cleared her throat.  "I hate to have to restate this, but we're 
trapped in an anti-time bubble.  Do you mind helping us out here?"
     Andrea nodded.  "Okay, where's your staff?  I can use it to..."
     "It was destroyed." Pluto sighed from within the light.  "I can easily 
repair it if I get out of here...but you won't be able to use it yourself."
     Andrea blinked.  "Okay..."
     "How much of your training do you remember?" Sharon asked.
     Andrea began to sweat.  "Ugh...I'm not sure..."

     All was quiet from within the bubble.  

     "What's wrong?" Maury asked.
     "I wasn't exactly a model student back on Pluto." Andrea admitted.  "And to 
get her out is a pretty difficult spell...I don't know if I can pull it off 
right."
     "Well, I can't see the future when time-manipulation is involved, so I 
won't be able to tell you what happens." Maury sighed.  "Can you do it?"
     "Listen," Pluto interrupted.  "I can slow down time in here a bit, so don't 
worry about us.  Besides, the Omega Web wanted me out of the way for some 
reason.  If I return, all they'll do is cause more trouble."
     Andrea nodded.  "So first we have to find out what's up with the Web."
     "If they've declared war on us Scouts, then I doubt me coming out to help 
will be much more than an excuse to attack." Pluto said.  "It's up to you, Chibi 
Pluto."
     Andrea smiled.  "You haven't called me that for a while."
     "This is serious." Pluto continued.  "You are now the Guardian of Time.  
Ready or not, you've got the job." Sharon smiled inside the bubble. "Just don't 
screw up the universe TOOOO much, okay?"
     Andrea blushed.  "I'll try."
     Serena coughed.  "Okay, let's go help out Ami and Lita.  It's the best 
place to start."
     Maury nodded and ran ahead.  Serena nodded and followed.
     "Be careful!  Good luck!" Sharon called out.
     "We will." Andrea smiled.  "Thanks."
     "One more thing..." Sharon paused.  "You'll need this."
     A beam of purple light escaped from the bubble.  It hit Andrea's forehead 
and formed the characteristic PL symbol of Pluto.  
     Andrea stepped back as the light dissipated.  "Woah!" she shivered.  
     "Just in case you need a little extra power later on." Pluto said.  "You 
may need it."
     Andrea smiled happily. 
     "Oh, and remember..." Pluto added.  "You can stop their attacks by freezing 
them in time.  I doubt it will work on the actual people, but it helps when you 
aren't vaporized by a ball of energy."
     Andrea nodded.  "Thank you, sis.  We'll be back once this is over." she ran 
off to joining the others.

     Pluto waited until Andrea was gone.  "God I hope so...I don't feel like 
staying in this bubble for the rest of eternity."


















                                  Chapter 21








     Once again, the room began to shake.  Chris growled at the interruption and 
Quickly packed away his computer.  "This is getting annoying." he stated.
     "Apparently, he's going to show me this 'surprise' now." Mina sighed.  
"Hopefully, this is all just some stupid joke."
     "I'm not laughing." Dave said, then smiled.  "Be careful."
     Mina nodded as Ckay appeared, dressed in a tuxedo.  They almost burst out 
in laughter.
     "What the hell is THAT?" Chris asked, adding a laugh.
     Ckay turned to him.  "Quite frankly, I doubt you could do better." Ckay 
sighed.  "Now, Mina, I believe it's time to finish our tour.  Would you care for 
dinner??"
     Mina shrugged.  "I guess I don't have anything to wear." she reverted back 
into her civilian clothes to reveal just a casual shirt and jeans.
     "We can fix that with a stop by the replicators if you want." Ckay offered.  
"But I must insist we leave now.  We don't want to be too late!" he said 
happily.
     Before Mina could reply, she and Ckay transformed into balls of light and 
sped out through the wall.

     "You guys have replicators?" Chris asked eagerly.  "Keener!"

     Dave nodded.  "Yeah, but they still can't replicate living matter." he 
smiled as the cell shifted back into it's prison-dimension.  "At least not yet."
     Chris nodded and plugged back into the wall-jack.  "Okay, we're in."
     Dave and Rei looked over his shoulder as he began to type.  "Now what do we 
do?"
     The screen resembled a DOS prompt.  Chris typed in a code of 1's and 0's.  
"I've been learning a few of your basic commands on the side." he explained.  
The entire Omega Web Network came up on the screen.  They were at the most basic 
level, but it was already branching off into about fifty sub-areas of computer 
controls and information.  "Though I still have no idea what to do now."
     Dave nodded.  "It's a lot easier once we get voice-control." Dave 
explained.  "You're going to have to go to the 'Field-Office' area.  We keep 
files there that can upgrade computers we might be stuck using in when away from 
the Omega Web."
     Chris nodded and translated "Field Office" to binary in his head.  "I 
prefer commands that use the other ninety-nine percent of the keyboard as well."  
Chris sighed, tracing over the numbers in his head to make sure he was getting 
them right.
     The computer screen shifted colours.  A list of files came up with 
descriptions in a tightly-packed version of hexadecimal code.  "Actually, binary 
and hexadecimal are two of our oldest written languages." Dave explained.  "Our 
computers run on a semi-thousand character system instead of ones and zeros like 
yours.  What this program will do is convert your computer into the Omega Web 
standard.  It will save us a lot of trouble when we're trying to look for Mina 
and Jhonen."
     "Mmm, I'm not even about to guess how that works." Chris sighed.  
     "It's best you don't.  It took a few hundred years to develop." Dave 
replied.
     Chris typed in what looked like a file-name and executed it.  His computer 
began to download the file off the network.  "Mmm, this looks like it's going to 
take a minute..."
     "I hope Mina will keep the dinner conversation going for a while." Dave 
replied with a worried look on his face.

     Rei smiled softly.  "You don't know her very well...do you?"







     Mina slammed the glass down on the table with a fit of laughter.  "And 
THEN, Artemis goes up to this dog who's like, twenty times bigger than him, and 
says: SIT!"

     Ckay watched her from the opposite end of the table with an unblinking 
face.  She had gone into "scary-mode".  

     Mina continued after taking a bite of a steak on her plate.  "So this dog 
is confused out of his mind!  HAHAHAAA!  HOO HAHAAAAA! So he sits and begins to 
whimper!  AND IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FUNNY!  HAHAHAA!"
     She was now wearing a beautiful evening gown.  Ckay had let her have her 
pick from the styles inside the replicator memory banks.  It was white, all 
silk.  Very nice, but not too flashy or low-cut.  The perfect evening-date 
dress.
     Ckay nodded.  "Uh..."
     "So, then, the poor dog's owner comes up to him and says 'What the hell's 
going on??  Aren't you going to chase that cat????'" Mina giggled wildly.  
"Artemis looks to the dog, and because the owner is still far away, he can't 
hear it when Artemis orders the dog to kill!!"
     "Did the dog listen?" Ckay asked. 
     "HOO HAAAA!  You bet!" Mina laughed, taking a quick sip from her glass.  
"So there's this tough looking guy being chased around by his own pit-bull!  AND 
all because a cat told him too!" She began to laugh even more hysterically than 
before.
     Ckay blinked.  "Mmm, I guess you had to be there..."
     Mina finally calmed down about a minute later and began to eat food again.  
"So, what do YOU do on your spare time??"
     Ckay smiled.  "Well, lately, I've been busy doing research."
     "Oh?  Sounds boring." Mina said bluntly.  "What's it about??"
     "Actually, about the 'Omega Point' process." Ckay explained.  "I'll show 
you what I mean later."
     "Okay..." Mina smiled.  "Hey!  Are you going to eat that swirly thing??"
     "It's all yours." Ckay smiled.  
     At the back of Mina's mind, she smiled to herself.  "He hehe!  I just 
proved that a little female charm and sex-appeal can outwit evil-super-humans 
any day!" she thought.
     For all their sakes, she hoped she was right.







     "It's days like this that make me wish I had a three foot long dentist's-
drill, and a few pounds of C-4." Lita growled.  "We've been sitting here for 
almost four hours now!"
     "I doubt blowing up the rock would do much." Ami sighed.  "The rock itself 
could be protected."
     Lita turned to Ami with a rather evil grin.  "It's not for the rock..." she 
giggled.  "You've been babbling on about stuff I can't understand ever since 
we've come here!"
     Ami backed up slightly as Lita stood up. "Uhhh..."
     "He he he!" Lita cackled.  "Oh yes...I bet I could make your head explode 
in three different..."
     "Lita!" Maury called out from behind the hill.  
     "Mo!" Lita replied.  "I missed you already." she giggled as they embraced 
and kissed.
     Ami almost hugged Maury too.  "Thanks, Maury.  Lita was getting kind of 
crazy..."
     "Just don't annoy me, and you won't have to sleep with one eye open at 
night!" Lita smiled happily.  
     Serena and Andrea came over the hill to.  "Okay, so what did you guys need 
help on anyway?" Andrea asked.
     Ami popped open her data computer.  "Rei and Mina's communicator signals 
are being reflected off of this rock.  It's hard to explain, and if I try, Lita 
will probably kill me...so I'll be brief." Ami said.  "Rei and Mina are in the 
Omega Web.  This rock is an entrance TO the Web, but we can't crack it open.  
Any ideas??"

     "Have you tried using love and kindness?" Andrea joked.

     "Hey!  Don't laugh!  That works on more enemies than you think!" Serena 
replied.  "By the way, I have something for..."
     "Not now." Lita sighed.  "We need you to try using the Silver Crystal to 
open the door.  If that doesn't work, we'll have to find another way in."
     "Like what?" Ami asked.
     Maury shrugged.  "Well, we could always jump an Omega-Web-person and force 
him or her to take us in..."
     Everyone sighed.  
     "But I guess we couldn't really threaten them a whole lot." Maury realized.  
"They can transport faster than we can use our weapons."
     "Okay, scratch that idea..." Andrea said.  Any other ideas?"
     Serena began to hold her breath as everyone continued.
     "Ami said that it's doubtful the Crystal will even work because of the way 
the Omega Web's power-systems work, so using the Crystal might just alert them 
to our presence." Lita cautioned.
     "Yes, but they probably can see us right now." Maury pointed out.  "We 
should check the bushes for those damn ball-cameras."

     Serena, who had been sucking in air for the last minute, had her cheeks 
puffed out to a rather amazing size.

     Andrea nodded.  "Well, I could use my Pluto Ground Zero to see if that will 
do anything, but I no longer have my broach." she paused.  "I guess I'm not much 
use to you guys..."

     Serena finally spoke...er...yelled.  "AAAANNNNDRRREAAAA!!!!!  I HAAAAVE 
SOOOMMETHIIIINNNNGG FOR YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

     Everyone was stunned by the decibels hitting their ears, and looked like 
they were ready to fall over unconscious.  Andrea finally turned to her.  "Did 
you have to yell?" she asked quietly, ears still ringing.
     Serena sighed.  "Yes.  Here you go.  You can thank me later." she handed 
Andrea her mask-pin.
     Andrea blinked.  "You saved this from the park??"
     Serena nodded.  "Yes, and I also took it to the Moon to get it upgraded.  
Be thankful you have a friend that will do THAT!"
     "What did you do to it?" Andrea asked.
     "I don't know." Serena shrugged, exasperated.  "Try it out already!!"
     Andrea looked at the pin.  "Uh...okay.  PLUTO MOON POWER!"

     At her feet, a column of green light enveloped her body.  A strange 
feeling came over her...
     She began spinning.  Her body was now transformed into light.  Suddenly, 
her torso solidified to form a white body-suit.  
     Notes of energy collided at her waist, forming a beautiful purple skirt.  
Two beams of light latched on as longer ribbons.  She continued twirling.  
Matching boots came into form on her feet, and two rings of light sped up her 
arms, putting on her white gloves and three clear shoulder-fins.  
     Her mask-pin hovered about her and finally latched onto her chest, forming 
a bow and finishing off the transformation with a burst of light.  

     Andrea finally realized what the feeling was.  She was now official.  She 
wasn't just pretending by using the "Sailor" title in her name...now, she was a 
full-fledged Sailor Scout!
     "Protector of Infinity and Justice..." Andrea spun around as a large staff 
appeared in her hand.  "I AM SAILOR CHIBI PLUTO!!" she said happily, posing with 
a 'peace'-sign.

     Everyone blinked.  Maury finally spoke.  "Wow!" he paused.  "Uh, Chibi-
Pluto??"

     "Naw..." Andrea smiled. "You can still call me Hooze."
     "Hey!  Nice outfit!" Jupiter smiled.  "The Sailor motif is never outdated." 
she said, acting like a supermodel.  "They're you."
     Andrea hopped up and down.  "Right on!" she ran up to Serena and gave her a 
gigantic hug.  "THANK YOOOOOOOOUUUU!"
     Serena couldn't breath.  "HAKKK!"
     "Uhm," Ami interrupted.  "We're supposed to protect her, not squeeze her to 
death." she joked.
     Andrea let Serena go.  "Oh, hehe!  Sorry!  I'm just excited."
     Serena smiled now that she could breathe.  "Mom decided you've been out of 
the loop too long.  I convinced her to finally promote you to a Senshi."
     The two hugged again, happy to be part of the same team again...even if it 
was still a bit rocky. 
     Andrea nodded.  "Okay!  So what are we doing standing around here?  Let's 
bust open that rock and get my bro!" she smiled. "I'll be damned if I can't show 
off my new suit to at least him!"
     "My kinda girl." Jupiter smiled.  "Okay people! Let's do it!"
     "Welcome to the Rock..." Maury said suddenly, impersonating Sean Connery.
     Everyone ignored that.  Serena and Maury transformed.  "Okay, I'll try my 
crystal..."  Serena said.  "Stand back."
     
     Her broach opened with a flash of light.  The Silver Crystal glowed 
brightly as she cupped it with her hands.  Without even touching the broach, it 
floated upwards in her hands and over her head.  "MOON...CRYSTAL...POWER!!!!"
     Even Maury's sunglasses couldn't adjust to the sudden beam of pure white 
light.  Andrea, who had never seen the phenomenon close up, was amazed at the 
sheer power the crystal seemed to be pumping out. 
     The beam hit the boulder, but began "splashing" like it was a stream of 
water.  "What's going on?" Sailor Moon asked over the loud hum of the crystal.
     Ami did a quick scan.  "It's not working! The field of time around the 
entrance is deflecting the beam!"
     "That's it!" Andrea said suddenly.  "Time!  That's their weakness!"
     Ami turned to her.  "How do you know?  Mina said they could manipulate time 
A bit...why would they..."
     "My sister said that her Dead Scream managed to freeze their attacks." 
Andrea explained.  "Not only that, but some alternate dimensions are really just 
different time-sets."
     Ami thought for a bit.  "That is one theory..."
     "Then stand back!" Andrea ran up besides Serena.  "Hold on, Sailor Moon!  
I'm going to help!"
     Serena nodded, but she was getting weak from using the crystal. "Hurry!"
     Andrea nodded and pointed her new staff at the rock as well. It had an 
identical look to Sailor Pluto's.  "TIME EQUALIZE!" she yelled as a red light 
began emanating from the end of the talismans.  
     A beam of red light now joined Sailor Moon's.  The air around the rock 
began to fluctuate as Sailor Hooze tried to focus on her spell.  
     "Damn!" Jupiter growled.  "It's not working!"
     Ami shook her head.  "No!  Wait! Andrea's bringing the entrance into real-
time with her spell!  We'll be able to see the entrance in a few seconds!"
     "Rock on!  It's ass-kickin time!" Lita cheered, crouching a bit to get 
ready for attack.  
     Sure enough, a rough, door-way began to appear slowly thanks to the 
combined forces of Sailor Moon and Sailor Hooze.  "We're in!" Maury said 
happily.
     The two stopped emitting their attacks and fell to the ground, exhausted.  
"Wow!  I hadn't tried that for about a hundred and one decades." Andrea smiled.
     "Please don't confuse me..." Lita sighed.  "I've had enough of Ami's 
babbling."
     Ami frowned.  "Hey!  All she said was a thousand and ten years!"
      Lita retorted.  "I've been sitting by this stupid rock for most of the 
evening...I can't multiply right now!"
     Serena interrupted. "Come on!  Let's go before they figure out we're no 
longer just a hobby!"

     They all nodded and jumped into the hallway.



















                                  Chapter 22








     Darien walked alone down the street, holding a small bag of groceries in 
his hand.  It was nice to have a break from running around, saving the world.  
The truth was, and he never let Serena know, he had been pretty shaken by the 
Galaxia fight.  
     He sighed, trying to put that in the past.
     After all, he knew there would be new things to worry about very soon.
     He just didn't realize HOW soon.
     A group of kids were looking at a television-set display in the window of a 
Nearby electronics shop.  Curiosity got the better of him, and he wandered 
across the street to join them.  "What's on TV?" he asked.
     "Shhh!" the kids replied.  "Watch!"
     A news report?  Darien watched .  It was from the UN.  They NEVER made TV
announcements...unless it was some kind of war or crisis.
     The broadcast was already half over, but Darien managed to pick out what 
was going on.  "To recap," the man repeated "A dangerous new terrorist 
organization has been kidnapping at random, stating only for the authorities to 
keep out of their way.  Any resistance, including deadly force, has been 
ineffective against these criminals who call themselves the Omega Web."

     Darien gasped, dropping his groceries.

     "Officially, twelve people worldwide have been reported missing due to the 
Omega Web, but our sources say that may be a small percent of the abductions.  
Every time, the Web leaves behind no evidence or information regarding ransom 
demands or even why they have been taking innocent people.  No connections 
between the reported cases have been found."
     "Why is the UN involved if this is a simple abduction thingy?" A kid asked.
     "As stated before, the Web has told everyone to keep out of their 
way...including the UN.  The United Nations feels it is in best interests to 
start negotiations with the Omega Web as soon as possible, but it appears they 
want little to do with..."
     Darien had already left.
     He ran down the street    
     Kidnapping?  Coincided with the arrival of this "Ckay" person, it was too 
much of a coincidence to ignore.  At the back of his mind, Darien reminded 
himself what he would be up against if he had to fight the Omega Web.  
     He swallowed hard.  Perhaps this was one situation where it was better to 
go in blindly.  Anyone who knew half what the Web could do would kindly decline 
and try to move to a different planet as soon as it became available rather than 
face one or two of them.
     Who knows how many of them make up the Web?  Mina said something around 
fifty from what Dave had been telling her.  It was hard enough for the Scouts to 
win equal-sided battles, let alone ones where they were outnumbered.
     "I'll just have to work harder."  Darien thought to himself.
     He was so busy running towards the Temple that he almost didn't stop when a 
large blade flew down in front of him.  He blinked and  turned to the source of 
the weapon.
     Two words escaped his lips.  "Oh shit..."






     "So, you must tell me, Mr Ckay," Mina said as he lead her through the halls 
of the Omega Web.  "What is this big surprise you keep referring to??"
     "Soon, Mina...soon." Ckay smiled.  "Anyway, you were saying?" he continued 
walking ahead.
     "Nothing much...I'm just wondering what the hell you keep hinting at!" Mina 
said, slightly annoyed.  "Now I like a surprise as much as the next girl but if 
you don't show me soon then I'm going to kick your ass!"
     Ckay paused for a second.  "Well, I guess you're right...I'll show you 
now!" he said excitedly.  
     He snapped his fingers, and the two transported to another part of the 
Omega Web.  This one was darker than the rest, but looked vaguely like a 
hospital.  It's walls were clean white instead of the smart, crisp, metallic 
gray ones in the hallways and some of the main rooms.  
     "What is this place?" Mina asked, looking around.  The room had one wall 
made of glass, but nothing showed through.  "You didn't take me here on the tour 
earlier."
     Ckay nodded.  "I had to wait.  Even now, I'm not really ready to show you, 
but I might as well, since I'm not too sure how much longer it will take."
     Mina nodded in approval.  "Then let's get on with it!"  he smiled.  "This 
is worse than waiting for Christmas Day to open your gifts!"
     The glass wall un-polarized, turning clear and revealing it's contents.  
     Ckay smiled and gestured to the sight that fell on her eyes.
     A man was tied down to a chair.  Some kind of operating table device.  
"What is this?" Mina asked, trying not to sound creped out. 
     "You'll see." Ckay smiled.
     An Omega Web technician was nearby, typing in commands into a computer 
console.  He then put on a pair of heavy sunglasses and walked over to a lead 
shield.  
     "What's going on?" Mina asked again, almost afraid of the answer.
     It happened before she got one.  A beam of light hit the man's forehead.  
Then, two more from the sides.  A group of ten different coloured "lasers" also 
joined in and began to bombard the person's upper skull with light.
     The beams intensified.  At first, the man had been slightly sedated and 
quiet...

     But now he was screaming.  

     He screamed louder as the light grew brighter.  Mina gasped and turned away
quickly.
     It didn't help much.  The man's screams were now to the point where it felt 
like her own head was hurting.  All the while, an unearthly hum filled the air.  
Mina didn't bother to look when she heard a loud, sickening "SPLAT!".
     The light and hum died down.  Ckay sighed.  "Mmm, I guess they still 
haven't gotten it right."
     Mina turned to him.  "What the HELL WAS THAT??" she yelled at the top of 
her lungs, shaking uncontrollably.
     Ckay turned to her.  "I'm sorry.  You see, what we've been trying to do is 
accelerate the Omega Point process." he explained.  "Instead of all you 'normal' 
humans having to waste your dull little lives away, I've taken the initiative to 
advance your state of being."

     Mina blinked, speechless.

     "Why?" Ckay asked for her.  "Because I was thinking of what you said the 
other day." He paused, then walked around the room a bit.  "You said that we 
were on two completely separate levels of existence, and dating would not only 
be impractical, and boring for both of us, but also..."
     "YOU KILLED THAT MAN BECAUSE YOU WANT TO DATE ME???" Mina screamed.
     Ckay turned to her with a smile.  "Oh, I'm afraid he's not exactly the 
first we've tried the 'treatment' on.  Though for you, I don't mind."
     Mina shivered.  "Get me out of here...NOW!"
     "Fine...I can see you need some time to relax after your evening." Ckay 
said, turning his back to the wall.  "Oh, and when you see Dave, tell him that 
Jhonen is doing..." he smiled "okay.  And also to tell him I might need his help 
later on."
     Mina just stood their shaking until she was whisked away by the teleport.






     Roberts glanced at the screen again...just to make sure.  The Sailor Scouts 
were no longer outside their entrance.
     "Computer, where are Sailor Moon and her group located now?" he asked the 
control panel in front of him. 
     "Searching..."
     Roberts sighed.  Why was it taking so long?  Maybe Ckay was running another
benchmark test on the network or something.  The results finally came up.
     "Tokyo entrance, Wing 01011."
     Roberts blinked.  "What?"
     Another man would have called for a visual check, or maybe a DNA trace.  
Perhaps the best thing to do would be to see if the Scout's power-signatures 
were matching up with the ones Dave have recorded last year.  
     Roberts, though, tired and sore from the fight with Sailor Pluto, decided 
he had asked the wrong question, or the computer had a low-level virus.  Either 
way, he wanted to get some sleep. 

     He stood, logged off his terminal, and teleported to his office for a good 
hour's rest.

     Up against the most powerful humans on earth, the Sailor Scouts were in 
need of a lucky break.  Being undetected for a few hours would be a nice start.




















                                   Chapter 23








     Mina materialized and immediately sunk to her knees.
     Everyone gasped and ran over to her.  "Are you okay?" Rei asked.
     She shook her head.  "At first...he didn't seem like such a bad guy."  Mina 
said, still shaking.  "But now..."
     "Did he hurt you?" Dave growled.
     "No...no...not me." Mina said quietly.  "At least not yet..."
     "What happened?" Chris asked finally.
     "He's been working on a way to turn humans into Omega people...with force." 
She cringed, remembering the sucking, indescribable sound she heard when the 
man's head exploded.  "He's killed at least two or three innocent people trying 
to get the process to work."  She began to cry.  "He wants to turn me into one 
next!"
     Rei stood up and growled.  "FFFFFFUUUCKK!" she slammed her fist into the 
solid metal wall without even cringing.  "That DOES IT!  Are we going to trash 
that fucker or WHAT?"
     Chris stood up.  "I think I can bring the cell back into Omega space...and 
I'm sure we can make it so they can't detect our arrival.  If we're going to 
attack, it's as good a time as any."
     Dave shook his head.  "There's safeties against that.  However, we could 
bring the cell into Omega space for a few seconds.  The only thing that would be 
good for is to convince Jhonen to give Ckay the codes."
     Chris frowned.  "That would be bad."
     "It's the only way." Dave sighed.  "It's either that or Mina here gets 
killed.  At least with the Point Calculator, he'll do it right, and we'll have 
time to think of something else."
     Chris began typing.
     Rei looked at Dave oddly.  "What's wrong with you, Dave?  A few minutes 
ago, you swore you'd kill Ckay if he even threatened Mina or us in any way.  Now 
you're willing to give him a device that can predict our plans and attacks for 
days into the future?"
     Dave shook his head.  "He's put me up against a wall here.  If he has the 
Calculator, at least he won't kill anyone while working on his plans."  he 
turned to Chris.  "What are you doing?"

     Chris said nothing.  He kept typing.  

     The room began to shudder.  Chris looked up and swore, quickly packing away 
his laptop again.  Rei sighed.  "Wheee.  Another visit perhaps?"
     A second after the shuddering stopped, Ckay appeared in his tuxedo. "Hi 
everyone." He smiled.  "Oh!  Mina!  Great news!  The last guy was...um...a bit 
more successful than the one you saw.  We're ready to throw you into the beam if 
you'd like to follow me."
     Mina shuddered.  "I'm not..."
     "Wait!" Dave growled.  "You haven't perfected the process?"
     Ckay shrugged.  "But we're really close.  Chances are that everything will 
go fine." He extended his hand.  "Come on Mina!"
     Dave stood between the two.  "Listen...if I can...get you the P.C. codes... 
would you at least make sure it won't kill her?"
     Ckay blinked like he was surprised.  "Why, Dave!  That's downright keen of 
you." He paused.  "Okay, talk to your buddy.  He's in Cell Zero-two.  You know 
the way, I presume."
     "Yes." Dave replied.  "But I'll remind you what will happen if you as so 
much..."
     "Yes yes, get on with it." Ckay sighed.  "Oh, and Dave?"
     Dave rolled back his eyes. 
     "Thanks, buddy." Ckay smiled.
     Dave disappeared.
     Ckay turned to Mina.  "You humans really are easy to manipulate.  Maybe 
once he gets back, you might want to tell him that." he smiled.  "Honestly, you 
Scouts keep saying that love is your strongest force against evil, but in the 
hands of anyone with half an IQ point, it's your strongest weakness."
     He dissolved in the usual shower of light.
     Chris growled, hit the wall, and popped open the panel. "Bragging is your 
weakness, butt-munch!"
     "What are you doing?" Rei asked.
     Chris plugged in his computer and pressed <Enter>.  He smiled.  "Rei, we're 
about two seconds away from having some fun."
     The cell began to shudder.  Chris just smiled as it did.  "What?" Rei asked 
again.
     "Well, I reprogrammed the cell control." Chris said. "Easy, really.  I just 
copied and pasted the "from" dimension to the "destination" dimension."
     "You mean..." Rei smiled.  "They're reading that we're changing 
dimensions..."
     "But we're just jumping back into this one." Chris nodded.  The shuddering
continued...this time, the three Sailor Scouts were in slightly better spirits.






     Jhonen opened his eyes to see Dave hovering over him.  "Dave?"
     His friend nodded.
     "Right on!  I knew you'd kick some Ckay ass!" Jhonen sat up on the shelf he 
was assigned for a bed.  "Tell me!  Did you kill the little bastard, or just 
return him to normal?"

     Dave's expression told him otherwise.

     Jhonen blinked.  "I see..."
     "I need the codes." Dave said finally.
     "Codes?" Jhonen blinked.  "For the Calculator?  Why?"  
     Dave turned his back to Jhonen.  "Because unless Ckay has them, a lot of 
innocent people will die."
     Jhonen sighed.  "Unless we're talking billions of people, I hardly think 
it's worth it."
     "Just give me the codes...please.  This has been hard enough for me as it 
is." Dave sighed.
     "Hard?  On you?" Jhonen smiled. "Do you know what they've done to me?" 
     Dave didn't ask.
     "I was drug across the Web by Ckay's little minions while all my former 
colleagues watched.  Most cheered at my 'amazing capture'." he paused.  "I'd 
rather they kill me than take away what quiet dignity I had..." he sneered.  "Or 
at least THOUGHT I had...with you at least."
     Dave turned to him.  "What?"
     "What the hell is wrong with you?" Jhonen demanded.  "I thought that we had 
come to an understanding.  I will not bow down to sub-human scum like Ckay, no 
matter what happens."
     "I've always respected your opinion.  You've been the most 'dignified' 
person I've met." Dave said.  "But I still need those codes."
     "Dignity my ass.  I'll keep what little of it I have left instead of giving 
in." Jhonen said stubbornly.  "The assholes of human society have too much power 
already.  I will not give them ONE MORE FUCKING EDGE that they can use to FUCK 
UP THIS PLANET!" Jhonen yelled. "DO YOU HEAR ME?  If I do one more thing to help 
assholes like him...then I will kill myself.  Right then and there.  But as I 
do, I'll make sure to take him along with me."
     Dave stood silently for a long time after his friend's outburst.  
"Jhonen...I have no other choice."
     Jhonen looked at his friend.  "Then you now have no choices.  I will not 
give you the codes."
     Dave lunged at him, grabbing Jhonen by his neck and lifting him up in the 
air.  "FUCK YOU!  Don't you see that if you don't, Mina...people will DIE!"
     Jhonen smiled.  "Mina?  Is that it?"
     Dave tossed Jhonen to the ground.  "DAMN YOU!  I don't want to hear about 
Your speculation on my love-life!  Tell me the fucking codes!"
     Laughing.  Dave looked down at Jhonen to see what was so funny.  "Perhaps I 
should stop torturing you."  Jhonen smiled, getting to his feet. 
     "What?"
     "There are no codes."
     Dave blinked.  "It's not encrypted?"
     Jhonen smiled.  "Oh...it's encrypted.  Very well.  You see, the Point 
Calculator is now just a nice, glowing paper-weight."
     "What??"
     "The codes I used are lost in the neutrino count of the universe.  You see, 
I made the code self-mutating.  It's literally impossible for me, or anyone, to 
crack...at least not until we make another Point Calculator." Jhonen explained, 
sitting back down on his bed.  "As I said before, I will not risk putting that 
much power into the hands of an asshole.  Even if that means we're fucked as 
well."
     Dave leaned back against the wall.  "You fucker..." he paused.  "Mina..." a 
smile came to his face.  "Jhonen my friend, you're the best."
     Jhonen smiled.  "I try." he cleared his throat.  "So...tell me about your 
honey!"
     Dave sighed.  "She's this sweet little blonde number...really cute, and I'm 
in love with her."
  




     
     "Now what?" Rei asked as the cell stopped moving.
     Chris shrugged.  "Well, according to Dave, my sword probably isn't able to 
cut through that much metal any more without Saturn to recharge it...but it does 
have a few back-up jolts in it."
     "Mina, are you ready..." Rei asked, turning to her friend.
     Chris glanced over to see what was the matter.  Mina was now naked.  
"WHOA!" he turned the other way.  "Sorry...didn't see anything..."
     Rei laughed.  "What the hell are you doing, girl?"
     Mina held out her power stick.  "Getting rid of that fucking dress Ckay 
gave me." She frowned, "VENUS POWER!!!!"
     


















                                  Chapter 24







     Roberts yawned as he walked down the hallway.  He had a good sleep, and 
decided to find out why the computer had been malfunctioning earlier on.  On the 
way, though, he was stopping by the Cell-Block.  A strange data flow seemed to 
be coming from one of the older units.  It was probably just feedback, but he 
had to make sure.
     Ahead of him, to the left, was a series of large, square holes in the wall 
that seemed to fade into nothingness.  However, one of the cells was visible.  
He frowned, looking at the display.  "That's weird...it says that THIS is it's 
destination-frame."
     He then realized it was the cell holding Dave and the three captured 
Scouts.  "What the hell...?"
     A blue slash of energy, followed by a billowing fireball, exploded from the 
side of the cell, out into the hallway.  Roberts gasped as Sailor Mars and Venus 
jumped out of the hole.  "Stop right there!" he ordered, powering up an energy-
bolt in his hand.
     Rei smiled and snapped her fingers.  "I don't think so."  
     Chris appeared behind her.  "FISS!"
     Roberts hadn't seen him, and was caught off guard.  He flew backwards into 
the wall.  "GRR!" he growled.  "That's TWICE you fucking Scouts have tossed me 
into some kind of wall, and-or building!  I DON'T LIKE THAT!"
     "You might want to hold your breath." Mina smiled, giving him a wink.
     Chris looked at his watch.  "Yes...in about three seconds, you'll need it."
     Roberts frowned.  "What?"
     One of the cell's across from Roberts began to fluctuate.  The safety 
systems were overridden, so when the cell began to return to it's dock in normal 
Omega-space, a doorway to the void-universe opened up.  
     "Hold on!" Rei cried to the others.  They all grabbed onto the corner of 
their cell.  Before Roberts realized what was happening, the void sucked him in.  
Air and debris followed like it was a breach in the hull of a spacecraft, but it 
quickly stopped as the cell appeared and plugged the hold.  
     They all relaxed.  "Well, that was easy enough." Chris smiled.  "It's too 
bad I didn't have enough time to set up some more traps on the network, though."
     Rei nodded.  "We better get to work.  There's about fifty more of them 
assholes."
     "Then let's find the Point Calculator.  Chances are that Ckay and his 
buddies are hanging around it." Chris said.  
     "Did you find out where it is?" Mina asked.
     Chris nodded.  "That's the hard part.  To get to it, we have to do that 
weird 'transport' thingy."
     "Then we're going to need some help." Mina sighed.
     A ball of light appeared from the roof and hovered for a moment.  The three 
looked up at it and got ready.  Chris pulled out his sword.  
     The ball hovered lower and materialized.  They all blinked.  It was an 
older man, looked like about seventy years old.  His suit looked a bit wrinkled, 
like he hadn't changed in a few days.  
     "You the Sailor Scouts?" he asked quickly.
     They nodded.
     He smiled, extending his hand.  "I'm Black.  Oldest living Omega Web 
member...and I'm sure you'll be happy to know I'm here to help."
     Rei smiled.  "Wow.  What service."
     Mina nodded.  "One thing.  You help us, but I get the first shot."
     Black shrugged.  "Sounds good.  Now listen, a lot of the people supporting 
him are just doing it because they have no other alternative.  If we take out 
Ckay, they won't do much to avenge him.  Maybe Karen and a few others, but with 
my help, we can handle it."
     "Then lets get started." Rei smiled.





     
     Julia walked down the hall, carrying a pack of data crystals for Ckay's 
"research."  She had a grin.  
     Nothing was more satisfying than knowing the Omega Web was finally doing 
something.  If a hundred or so people had to die so that the rest of the human 
race could advance, then she was all for it.  
     Something hit her foot.
     "What the??" She looked down.  She picked up a tiny metal and plastic 
object.  At first, she wondered if it was some kind of surprise bomb or 
something...but it was an ear-ring.  Rather beautiful.  In the shape of a rose.  
     She decided to keep it, and was about to pocket it...when a white gloved 
fist hit her nose.  
     THUD!  She fell down, leaving a trail of blood from her nose as she hit.  
Sailor Jupiter smiled, rubbing her fist.  She then bent over and picked up her 
ear-ring.  "Don't ever THINK of taking my stuff again."
     Maury, Andrea, Ami, and Serena turned the corner.  "I love it when she 
talks rough." Maury smiled.
     Lita winked back.  "Come on.  They're not so bad if you catch em off 
guard."
     Just before she walked off, Julia's hand wrapped around her ankle.  "Shit!" 
Andrea gasped.  
     Julia materialized back to her feet, then slammed Lita back into the wall 
with a yellow blast from her hand.  "Bitch!  That fucking hurt!"
     Maury ran up to her, about to elbow her in the back.  Julia saw this and 
transported behind the group before they even knew it.  She turned around and 
shot them all back with another blast from her hand.  They all fell forward and 
landed in a big heap.  
     "You little bitches!  Did you think you could come in here and play with 
us?" Julia laughed.
     Andrea stood up.  "I don't like your attitude!" she picked up her staff.  
"GROUND ZERO!!!!"
     She emitted a green bubble that grew into an advancing wall.  Julia just 
smiled.  "Nice magic trick." she raised her hands.  "I despise magic tricks."
     She shot out two bolts of red energy this time.  The impacted on the 
surface of Andrea's Ground Zero...

     ...and stopped.  

     The Ground Zero kept going, though.  Julia blinked in surprise.  Andrea 
smiled.  "See ya."
     The wall of light slammed into her.  An echo of her scream rang out in the 
hallway.  The Zero attack faded out of existence.  Serena walked up to her.  
"Right on!"  
     "I try my best." Andrea smiled.  
     Maury helped Lita out of the dent in the wall.  "You okay, honey?"
     Lita nodded.  "Yeah...no problem." she coughed.  "Fuckin Omega assholes.  
Just because they have superpowers doesn't mean they can go around slamming me 
into walls."
     Maury smiled.  "Come on.  Let's go."







     Ckay sat in his seat, gazing back over across the control room to the Point 
Calculator.  Even in it's dormant state, the huge crystal glowed an ominous 
shade of purple.  It held answers to questions not yet asked.  
     The last frontier...the last great power that humanity lacked.  Complete 
and crystal clear knowledge of the future.  
     Ckay sighed.  "Fucking linear mind." he stood up and walked over to the 
Calculator.  "Why are we all trapped in time?  Just a one-way street...really 
simple concept...but the problem is that it's dark, and some little punks 
smashed out your headlights before you left the garage."
     He pressed his hand up to the crystal.  It hummed quietly as it's energy 
field moved around his hand.  "Well, you're my replacement headlights." he 
smiled.  "Sooner or later, once I have the future, the past won't be much of a 
problem."

     Karen materialized behind him.  "Ckay...we have a problem."

     Ckay turned to her.  "Did Dave get Jhonen to hand over the codes?"
     Karen blinked.  "I...I haven't heard anything."
     "Okay, I'll go down there in a second." Ckay nodded.  "So, what were you 
going to say?"
     "The cell...they've escaped."
     Ckay instantly ran over the situation in his mind.  "Fuck...Chris has a 
laptop...Dave could have showed him the layout..." he turned to her.  "No more 
fuck-ups.  I want the computer locked down to voice and this room only.  That 
little smart-assed samurai wanna be will NOT be fucking around with MY 
computers.  Is that clear?"
     Karen nodded.  
     "Also, check to see if anyone's missing.  If they've gotten out, and this 
is the first I've heard about it, they've probably managed to get rid of a few 
of our friends."  He sighed.  "You might want to tell everyone to watch out for 
attacks on a level three point three energy range...as well as heat 
frequencies."
     Karen disappeared, leaving Ckay alone with the Calculator again.
     Ckay sighed.  "See?  With you behind me, I could have prevented all this 
From happening."  
     He turned around and sat back down in his chair.  Manipulating Dave was the 
easy part.  It would be finally breaking him that needed work.  Mina seemed to 
be his greatest weakness...as he must have thought that she was his.  An 
opportunity too great to pass up.  
     Besides, if he got closer to Mina in the process, all the better.  He 
smiled to himself.  It wasn't, however, a smile of scheming and planning, but 
rather the smile of someone in love.  If love wasn't in the way of his plans, he 
was all for it.
     
















                                  Chapter 25








     A cluster of light came up through the floor, hovered, and transformed into 
Black and the three Sailor Soldiers.  They looked around quickly.  "How is this 
an inner hallway?  It's even bigger than the outer ones!" Mina asked.
     "Remember...Omega Space isn't what it seems." Black explained.  "We're in 
real-distance right now.  The outer hallways span most of the Earth to make it 
easier to travel.  The command rooms in the inner hallway are what you would 
consider normal, though."
     Chris nodded.  "This building would be a cool essay topic in physics 
class." he smiled.  "Confuse the hell out of the teachers." he started making 
motions like his brain was exploding.  "Akk!  Too weird!  Nooo!  Can't handle 
concepts!"
     Rei sighed.  "Fine.  Once we get back, you can make your teacher's heads 
explode.  Right now, do you mind concentrating on the mission?"
     Chris snapped out of it.  "Yeah, no prob."
     Black smiled.  "Okay, now, we're going to have to circle around past the 
Replicator rooms to the..."
     A bolt of red energy slammed into the wall next to Black's head.  He ducked 
and turned around before another almost hit him.  It was Karen.  She had seen 
them.  She held out her hand.  "Black!  So that's what you've been up to!  
You're part of Dave's little take-over too!  Aren't you!?!" she pressed a panel 
on the wall.  "Ckay, get out here.  I've cornered the Scouts."
     "Black, what's behind these walls?  More empty dimension?" Chris asked.
     "No.  Just rock.  We're in a mountain right now." the old man replied.  
"Now stand back!"
     The Scouts obeyed. 
     "FOR THE OMEGA POINT!" he yelled, firing off two of his own bolts of energy 
with surprising speed. 
     Karen leapt over the weapons with a flip.  "You dare fire at ME?   
Traitor!!!" 
     "Rock N Roll!  Get her, Black!" Chris cheered.
     Black nodded and fired off another bolt.  Karen retaliated this time, 
firing two from each hand.  He dodged by firing a force-pulse behind him and off 
the wall. 
     Rei turned to Chris.  "Okay, we're in real-space now.  Think you can cut 
through this wall?"
     Chris shrugged.  "It depends how deep we're in the mountain." he took out 
his sword.  "Why?"
     Rei pointed at the wall.  "It would be nice to have an exit.  If Ckay and 
his buddies are coming, it will be nice if we can fight them in an open space."
     Chris nodded and slammed his sword into the wall.  The metal was tough, but 
began to buckle after Chris's third swipe.  
     Karen deflected Black's latest attack, and ran into him, body checking him 
to the ground.  Black jumped up to his feet.  Suddenly, a beam of light from his 
head shot out and hit Karen.  She smiled.  "You want to challenge me to a PHS-
duel?"
     The beam was met by one from her own forehead.  Both their faces went 
blank, and they stood, facing each other unmoving.
     Rei and Mina gasped.  "What's going on?" Venus asked.
     "Looks like some sort of mental combat..." Rei reasoned.  "I have no idea."
     Chris stopped hammering away at the wall.  He had dug a hole about a metre 
into it. "This is going to take a while.  You two go on and kick Ckay's ass."
     Rei pointed at Karen and Black.  "What if she wins?"
     Chris shrugged.  "I'll make sure to watch my back." he pointed down the 
hall.  "Just get the bastard so we can all go home."
     Rei and Mina nodded, then ran off down the passage, making sure not to bump 
into the two duelling Omega Webbers.
     Chris returned his attention to the wall.  "This would be much easier 
without a winter coat." he sighed, looking at his leather jacket.  
     A smile came to his face.  "Dammit!  HA!  That's perfect!" Chris jumped 
down the hallway in anticipation.







     Rei and Mina ran down the gray metal floor until they came to a large metal 
Slab blocking their way.  "Now what?" Rei asked.
     "This looks like some kind of security door." Mina said.  "If we break it, 
it might alert the entire Omega Web."
     Rei nodded.  "Yes, but remember, they can probably see us already." she 
smiled.  "Mars WAR LASER!"
     Mina nodded.  "Venus LOVE AND BEAUTY!!"
     "FIRE!"
     "SHOCK!!!!"
     The two weapons shot out and carved a large hole in the door.  They stopped 
as the smoke cleared and continued on their way.






     Ckay watched the situation from his chair.  He smiled.  Mars had used her 
attack that Dave gave her.  That gave him an idea.  "Computer, display 
properties of Rei Hino.  List in detail the energies of her War Laser attack."
     The giant wall-screen lit up and showed a stats page of her.  A few three-
dimensional bar-graphs showed her energy levels.  Ckay nodded.  "Computer, emit 
a dampening field in the Inner Hallways.  Make it an inverse waveform to graph 
three.  Also, add a point two second delay until I say so."
     The computer displayed the "Program Ready" symbol.  He smiled, then turned 
to the intercom.  "Attention all levels.  We are under attack.  Use of deadly 
force is authorized against intruders.  Do not let enemy fire touch you.  
Personal shields are ineffective."
     
     "You hear that?" Rei smiled.  "We can nuke em now!"
     Mina nodded.  "Let's hope so."

     Sailor Moon looked frightened.  "D-d-deadly force?  Against me?  I'm too 
young to die!"
     Andrea rolled back her eyes.  "Come on, wussy."
     Jupiter and Destiny were up ahead as they walked down the hallway.  "We're 
Going around in circles." Lita finally surmised.  "This sucks."
     Ami shook her head.  "My computer says there's a large room up ahead.  It 
could be the command centre."
     "Or it could be another bathroom." Andrea smiled.  "Did you scan for 
toilets this time?"
     Ami blushed slightly.  "Yes.  It's definitely not a bathroom this time."
     Maury paused.  "Paper rock scissors."
     They all did a double take at him.  "What?" Lita asked.
     Maury pointed to Andrea.  "We're about to fight.  Andrea...make sure you 
remember Paper Rock Scissors."
     "Fight???" Serena gasped.  
     Ami did a quick scan.  "I'm detecting three people in that room up ahead."
     "Then let's take them out!" Lita ran forward.  They all followed.  
     















                                 Chapter 26







     Lita stopped dead in her tracks.  Maury was next to see why.  There weren't 
three Omega Webbers in that room...rather about twelve.  They were all lined up 
in an attack formation.  

     It was a trap.

     Bolts of red light lashed out at them.  Somehow, Maury managed to tackle 
Lita before they hit her in the chest.  Andrea had seen them coming since she 
was a bit farther back.  "Ground Zero!" she yelled.  Her green bubble again 
filled the air and shielded her and the others from the energy.
     Ami quickly put away her computer.  "Mercury Bubbles...BLAST!"
     A thick fog filled the room, but it didn't help much.  Another wave of 
energy bolts shot out, this time half-hidden by the mist.  It was only because 
of her miraculous dodging abilities that Serena wasn't hit.
     "SOL!" Maury yelled from within the fog.  A flash of light dissipated it.  
"Sol-Stars!" he reached into his pocked and threw a series of explosive shrunken 
at their attackers.
     Each Sol-Sstar hit a target, but they exploded harmlessly.  For his 
troubles, Maury was the next target.  He jumped out of the way as a dozen balls 
of light hit the wall behind him.  
     "What the hell was that about their shields being ineffective?" Maury 
yelled.  "They seem fine to me!"
     "It must have been a distraction." Lita growled.  "JUPITER THUNDER...!" 
Electricity jumped from the air onto her tiara's antenna.  "CRASH!"
     Mercury tried again.  "Mercury Bubbles BLAST!" 
     The two attacks combined around two of the closest Omega People.  The 
bubbles clung to their skin, then electrified.  "ARRGHH!" they yelled, rolling 
on the ground.
     It obviously wasn't fatal because of their mental force-shields, but it had 
the general effect of being attacked by a swarm of angry fire-ants.  
     That just made the remaining ten of them angry. Another wave of red pulses 
shot out.  Andrea kept trying to think of what Maury meant by Paper Rock 
Scissors.  A new attack maybe?  That would explain why he wanted to tell her 
before they went into battle.  "Maury!  What's with that thing you told me!?" 
she yelled as a ball of energy hit the wall behind her.  
     Maury turned to her.  "I don't know!  Just try using it in an attack!  I 
saw something about it in a flash!  Quickly!" he turned. "SOL FLARE!"
     His body lit up in a flash of yellow and white light.  A lash of plasma 
came from his hands and hit the roof above the attackers.  The metal immediately 
liquefied and began to fall onto the group of Omega Webbers.  
     Most of them jumped to safety, but one didn't make it.  Molten ore hit his 
leg and vaporized a hole in it with a nasty 'hiisss!'
     "Right on!" Lita cringed. 
     They all ducked again as more bolts of light came for them.  A bolt slammed 
into Maury's shoulder, thrown him back against the wall.  He growled in pain, 
but was okay.  Lita turned to the one that had shot him.  "Grrrr!"
     Andrea stood.  "Well, here it goes!"  She put out her hand.  "Paper rock 
scissors!!" she yelled.
     Nothing happened.
     The Omega Webbers stood there for a second, uncertain of what she just 
tried to do.  They then attacked.  Five energy-balls sped toward her.  She 
gasped.  "PAPER!"

     One by one, the balls impacted...about an inch away from her body.  

     Shielding her, a transparent pink energy screen stood.
     Andrea looked at her hand.  "Uh?"
     Maury nodded.  "That's it!  Try something else!"
     Andrea nodded.  "Paper rock scissors...ROCK!" she formed her hand into a 
fist.
     The five who had just shot at her flew back against the wall as an 
invisible force took them off their feet.  They continued until they slammed 
into the wall, and then were crushed into bloody craters in the metal.
     They fell down from the wall, dead.
     That gave the Scouts the edge they needed.  Jupiter and Mercury rushed the 
Remaining four, then combined their attacks again.  "Jupiter oak..."
     "Mercury Aqua..."
     "EVOLUTION!"
     "RHAPSODY!"
     The remaining Webbers were covered by a thick coat of electric water and 
fell to the ground, trying to scratch the covering off.
     The Scouts regrouped.  "I remember now!"  Andrea said happily.  "I remember 
my training!"
     "What else can you do?" Lita asked.
     "Mostly just time-manipulating stuff...but I remember that paper-rock-
scissors thing, and I think I might also be able to imitate a Dead Scream." 
Andrea explained as they walked across the room.  There was only one other door, 
and it was marked "Inner Hallway 2".  
     "Shall we?" Maury asked, opening the door.  "Here you go, girls."
     Lita smiled.  "Look at that.  He's shot in the arm, but he still opens 
doors for ladies."
     Maury smiled.  "I'd show you what else I can do, but it's not polite to do 
that in public."
     






     Chris poked his head into the darkened room.  "Hello?"
     No one answered.  He smiled, walking up to a computer control panel in the 
centre of the room.  He pulled out his laptop and plugged it into the terminal.  
     Ckay had locked down the computer controls involving the network and 
command...but the Replicator controls were still online.  Chris smiled evilly.  
"Okay, don't go overboard Chris...just what you need."
     "Computer, do I have voice access in this room?"
     "Yes." The computer replied.  "Level three access."
     Chris nodded.  It was the best he could manage with the connection in the 
cell.  "I'd like to see a list of available portable computers.  Under five 
pounds, and must have a keyboard and a high resolution screen."
     His laptop began to display model numbers.  Chris scanned through them.  
"Computer, please describe the system zero-three-two."
     "Special field model.  One point two pounds, variable flexibility.  
Capacity is thirteen terra-bytes, binary mode.  Both Binary and Minary 
supported.  Quad-Processor design.  Class twenty.  Power is one solar amp per 
day.  Body heat and solar recharge.  All ports and links supported via Web-Port-
Scan (tm)."
     Chris smiled.  "Ooooh, sounds nice.  I'll take it." he paused.  "Can you 
have pre-arranged data on it's storage disk?"
     "Yes."
     "Okay, then." Chris nodded.  "Include all operational manuals, as well 
as programming info.  Also include the best OS you can have on it."
     A beam of light came down from the roof.  Tiny sparkles began to come 
together into a solid shape.  On his laptop, a tiny percentage-bar showed up.  
It would take a while.  
     Chris turned his attention to his screen again.  "Now to get down to 
business.  What kind of explosives do I have clearance to replicate?"
     The computer listed about four numbers.  
     "Describe list."
     "Ammonium tri-iodide crystals.  Contact explosive.  Nitrogen crystals.  
Contact and mixer.  C-1, military class.  C-3, military class."
     Chris smiled.  "Ten kilograms of C-1.  Replicate."
     Another beam came down from the roof next to the forming laptop-computer.  
Chris sighed.  It would take another ten minutes at least.  "Computer..." he 
looked at his jacket.  "What do you know about shirts??"
     A new list began to display on his laptop's screen...

     Strike Fiss smiled.






     Ckay turned in his chair as the door opened.  Mars and Venus walked in, 
arms crossed.
     He smiled.  "Well, hello girls.  What a pleasant surprise." his face 
dropped.  "Chris isn't with you...I hope nothing happened to him on the way 
here." he smiled.  "That wouldn't be very good now, would it?"
     Rei frowned.  "Oh, he's fine.  It's you I'd worry about."
     Ckay shrugged.  "Why's that?"
     "Cause I'm about to rip a hole in your chest the size of a small Nissan!" 
Venus growled.  
     "You've caused the Omega Web to lose it's ethics!" Rei said.  "Not only 
that, you've been using people as experiments in your sick little empire.  In 
the name of Mars, I won't forgive you!"
     Ckay sighed.  "Well, if your best attack is boring me to death, you're 
quite skilled at it."
     Mars smiled.  "WAR LASER!  FIRE!"
     She pointed her hands out.  Instead of a beam of red-hot heat, though, her 
laser ignited itself in an explosion.  Rei was thrown off of her feet and was 
knocked out against a wall.  Mina gasped.  "What did you do!?!"
     Ckay shrugged.  "The Omega Web gave her that attack...I just made it a bit 
more interesting."  He looked to the computer.  "Turn off inverse-field-delay.  
Go to straight disruption."
     The computer complied.
     "You see, Mina, you really don't have to resist this.  Eventually, I'll 
convince you to come and join the Web." Ckay smiled.  "We're really close to 
perfecting the Point-Jump treatment.  Once it's finished, we can help all the 
people on this planet!"

     Mina growled.

     "Mmm, I see you're still unhappy about that thing with the head-exploding." 
Ckay nodded.  "But you should realize that we are on the verge of doing great 
things.  Once more people are past the first Point, then the world will be a 
much better place to live in." he smiled.  "This IS what you try to protect, 
isn't it?  A better way of life?  Technology advancing decades in days...within 
a month, we could have half of the Earth's pollution cleaned up, and cure AIDS,
cancer and a few other pressing problems.  Within half a year, we could have no 
hunger, world peace, and free trade.  Imaginations would be heightened.  
Schooling would only be needed at basic levels and go twice as fast.  Television 
might have something good on for a change!  Think of the possibilities!" 

     Mina blinked.  "Really?  And who would be in charge of this new world?  
You?"

     Ckay shrugged, pretending like it never came to mind.  "I suppose the duty 
would fall upon me.  After all, the Omega Web would still be the most advanced 
organization, and I its leader." he walked over to a computer screen.  
"Now...where's Dave with those codes?"
     Mina crossed her arms.  "Dave would never give you the codes to the 
Calculator.  Humanity isn't all ready to be Omega-people.  You're living proof 
of that."
     "And I suppose you, being the all-knowing scholar of the world, should be 
the one to make that decision?" Ckay sighed and shook his head.  "It doesn't 
matter.  If I get the Point Calculator working again, Humanity will be ready.  
I'll force them, kicking and screaming if I have to.  It's time."
     "You'll never get those codes." Mina persisted.  "Dave would rather die 
than help you."
     "Help me?  Never."  Ckay smiled.  "What he will do, though, is tell Jhonen 
to give them up.  You see, he's rather stupid right now, and thinks I'd risk 
killing you to advance my research."
     Mina smirked.  "You mean you wouldn't?"
     "I'm just doing my job.  I may be too ambitious by some people's standards, 
but I'm still doing the right thing." Ckay nodded.  "However, I am not a 
monster, no matter what Dave has led you to believe, and I would never hurt 
you."
     Rei groaned from over in the corner.  Still trying to wake from 
unconsciousness.
     A tear came to Mina's eye.  "Oh yeah?  What about my friends?  Does your 
goodness run out when it comes to people you feel are in your way?"
     Ckay sat back down in his chair and began to spin it around with his feet.  
"I saw a movie not too long ago.  Extreme Measures or something like that." he 
paused.  "There was one line that always stuck with me.  It was: If you could 
cure cancer by killing one man, wouldn't you HAVE to do that?"
     Mina blinked, uncertain of what to say next.
     Suddenly, two balls of light came up through the floor.  Jhonen 
materialized.  Then Dave.  "Good movie...I saw it." Jhonen smiled.  "Though I 
thought the elevator fight sequence was a little lame."
     Ckay frowned.  "And how did you get out?"  He turned to Dave.  "This is not 
good, Dave.  For you or your little Scout buddies."
     Dave shrugged.  "If I can get rid of an asshole like you by risking my 
life...wouldn't I HAVE to do that?"  He shot out a bolt of light from his fist.
     It slammed into Ckay, toppling him over in his chair.  He rolled back on 
the ground, but got to his feet, only slightly stunned.  "What the HELL are you 
doing?!?"
     "Something I should have done a long time ago." Dave said, pointing his 
fists at the Point Calculator.  
     Ckay gasped as both Dave and Jhonen launched balls of light at the precious 
Point Calculator.  Each ball hit, slammed through the instrument's covering, and 
exploded within.  The crystal shattered like glass, causing a pulse of purple 
light to fill the room.  The Calculator's remains lay smouldering amid the 
broken crystal shards. 

     Ckay was temporally too stunned to speak.  

     Dave and Jhonen turned to him again.  "Don't worry, buddy.  I encrypted it 
beyond recovery anyway.  At least now you can't even copy the design without a 
few year's testing." Jhonen explained.  "It's over."
     Ckay turned from the burning wreckage to Jhonen.  "You little fucker!"
     "Ahhh, swears." Jhonen sighed.  "Crutch of the unimaginative."
     "I've had enough of this!" Ckay yelled.  "Computer!  Activate program C.K. 
three!!  NOW!"
     The room was filled with a high-pitch scream.  Mina dropped to her knees, 
trying to cover her ears.  It was no use.  The noise felt like it was drilling 
into her head.  "AAAAAHH!" she screamed in pain.  
     She felt something wet against her hand.  She took it away from her ear and 
saw a trickle of blood.  She suddenly felt dizzy.
     Dave turned to Ckay.  "STOP IT!"  He launched two energy-balls at the 
computer screen.  It exploded in a shower of sparks, fizzling out...but the 
sound continued.  The control computer was designed to take much more of a 
beating than Dave could provide.  "FUCK!  TURN IT OFF!" he yelled over the 
whine.  
     Ckay frowned and walked forward up to Dave.  "No.  You are going to stand 
here and watch as one by one, each of her mucus membranes burst.  Eventually, as 
the pitch increases, her head will begin to vibrate until it explodes.  YOU'RE 
GOING TO WATCH IT!  You destroyed my fucking Point Calculator, and NOW YOU'RE 
GOING TO PAY!" he screamed, jabbing his finger into Dave's chest.
     Jhonen had had enough.  He shoved Ckay out of the way.  "Turn off the 
sound, or I'll..."
     Ckay pressed his hand up to Jhonen's head. "SHUT-UP!" he screamed, firing 
off a bold or red light.
     Jhonen flew backwards into the far wall.  His neck produced a sickening 
CRUNCH as he hit and slid to the ground.
     Dave ran over to help, only to find that his friend was dead.  "No!  No!  
Come on!  Not you too!"  He stood suddenly, spinning with a kind of eerie speed, 
fists clenched.  "I've never wished to kill anyone in my life." he turned and
began walking towards Ckay.  "Until I met you."
     "Computer!" Ckay ordered.  "Detain Dave in a class three stasis field!"
     A wall of white light shot down from the roof, freezing Dave in mid-stride.  
     Ckay smiled.  "On contrary.  You're going to stay right there and watch 
like I promised."
     Dave tried to scream out in anger, but his mouth wouldn't respond.  All he 
could do is see and hear Mina screaming in the corner of the room.  FUUUCKKK!  
     Ckay shrugged.  "Of course, you did help build the Point Calculator...if 
you were to maybe, I don't know, help me reconstruct it...we could cut a deal."
     He paused, looking at Dave's horrified expression.  
     "Naw." he smiled.  "This is too much fun.  I'll make sure you die even 
slower than what Mina over here is experiencing."
     He pointed over to Mina to prove his point, only to return to "speechless" 
mode.

     Mina was getting up.  

     "It's not going to end like this!  Not when the Goddess of Love is on the 
job!" Mina said shakily as she stood.  
     Ckay blinked.  "That's impossible!"
     Mina took a few steps toward him.  "NOTHING is impossible!" she raised her 
finger.  "Haven't you learned that yet!?!"
     "Wh-what are you doing, Mina?" Ckay asked.
     "VENUS!"
     "Wait!" Ckay said quickly.  "Mina!  I wasn't going to kill you!  I was just 
doing this for Dave..."
     "CRESCENT!!!!"
     Ckay took a deep breath.  "Fine." he raised a fist.  "Then this ends n..."
     A blast of fire struck his arm from the side. He screamed out in pain as 
his clothes began to burn.  "Computer!  Fire suppression!"
     "BEAM!!!"
     Jets of water sprayed out from the floor, putting out his arm.  He turned 
to Mars, who had a grin on her face despite the ear-splitting sound.  Her 
fingers were extended in a "Fire ignite" pose.
     Ckay remembered Mina.  He turned to see her place her finger on his 
forehead.  "Oh shiii...."
     "SMASH!!!" She screamed.  Her finger lit up and discharged a bolt of light 
into Ckay's skull.  It went clean through, followed by a jet of blood out of the 
back of his head.  

     Ckay fell to the ground, dead.
     
     Mina turned to the door.  "Rei!  We have to get out of here!" she yelled, 
feeling a strange pressure building up on her head.
     Mars was writhing on the floor, probably passed out again from her previous 
impact and the nerve-crushing sound.
     She was helpless as she felt herself grow light-headed. Mina hit the ground 
again.  Her legs weren't going to get her to the door.  "Oh god...oh god...we're 
going to die!"

     "HOO HAW!" Chris yelled from outside.  A slash of blue light exploded 
through the door.

     He cringed as the sound hit his ears.  "Damn!  What is that?!?!!"  He 
looked around.  "Shit!  Rei!  Mina!  Dave!"  He turned to the computer.  It's 
controls were useless.  Destroyed by Dave's previous frustrated attack.
     Chris frowned, then pulled out his second sword.  "PARTY TIME!" he brought 
Them together in a wide arc and let loose his weapon one again.  
     The slash flew into the computer.  a second later, an explosion registered.  
The entire console, taking up most of the wall, exploded in a shower of sparks.  
Chris used his force-disk to shield himself from debris. 
     The sound had stopped.
     He breathed a sigh of relief, sheathed his swords, then ran over to help 
Rei and Mina to their feet.  On the way, he tripped over Dave, who was now free 
of the stasis field.  "Thanks, Chris..." he gasped, lungs bring from the smoke 
filling the room.  
     Chris smiled and helped him up.  "Come on.  If you die, I'll have to swipe 
all your awesome computer stuff."
     Dave smiled.  "What's left of it." he pointed to the crumbling wall.  "This 
hallway is set to auto-destruct in case of major damage.  I suggest we leave as 
quickly as possible."
     They helped the two girls to their feet.  After shaking her head out, Rei 
blinked.  "Chris?  When did you get a new outfit?"
     Chris smiled.  "You like?  I replicated it while I had a few minutes free."
     He was now in a white tuxedo dress-shirt and a black-blue silk vest.  On 
his back rested what looked like a new laptop computer.  Rei blinked.  "Yes, I 
do like...but next time, you might want to save us first."
     "Hey, I had to fill some time at the replicator station." Chris smiled as 
they left the room.
     Dave took one last look at Jhonen's body.  "Don't worry, buddy.  The 
assholes never gained the advantage." he then helped Mina out the door as more 
sparks began to fly.
     On a small, relatively undamaged console, the Omega-Web equivalent of a 2-
minute countdown appeared and began to tick.

















                                  Chapter 27







     Serena and the gang came across and old man and a younger woman who seemed 
to be having a staring contest....except for the fact that a beam of light 
joined their two heads.
     They all stopped in their tracks.  "This is different..." Lita said.
     Maury nodded, then looked farther down the hallway.  "Look!  A way out!"
     Andrea nodded.  "And look!"
     Chris, Rei, Dave and Mina rounded the corner.  They all smiled as they saw 
the remaining Scouts.  "Yo Hooze!  Whassup!  Nice threads!" Chris said.
     Andrea raised her eyebrows.  "You too.  This the way out?"
     "Yes.  We nuked Ckay, now let's get Mr Black and get the hell out of here." 
Chris said.
     Dave gasped.  "Oh no...a duel?  You let them fight in a mind-duel?"
     Fissy shrugged. "Uhm...well, we didn't have much of a chance to stop them."
     He walked up to Black.  "Damn.   It could take them hours to finish.  We 
can't move them or they'll both die..."
     "Then we better go." Maury said.  
     They all nodded and walked to the hole in the wall.  Chris had managed to 
use some of the explosives he replicated to finish the tunnel.  Outside, blue 
sky.  A bird flew by.  "Uh, how high up are we?" Andrea asked.  
     Dave walked to the end of the tunnel and looked over the edge.  "Oh my..."
     Andrea swallowed hard.  "I hate heights."
     "I can transport about three of you at a time." Dave said.  "If we hurry, 
there should be more than enough time."
     They nodded and gathered near Dave.  "Okay," he said...
     Nothing happened.
     He blinked.  "What?  Why can I transport?"
     A laugh came from the hallway outside the tunnel.  It was Karen.  "I'll 
tell you why...because I'm blocking your powers."
     They all turned to see her block the end of the tunnel.  She had won the 
duel.  Black lay dead outside.  His brain was now a Jell-o like substance that 
was noticeably oozing out through his ears.  
     The worst part was that the tunnel was too narrow to fight in.  Karen 
smiled. "This is going to be fun.  You bastards killed Ckay, didn't you?  You've 
destroyed half the Omega Web!  You stupid little kids!  Do you know how long it 
will take to repair this mess?"
     Less time than if we let Ckay live." Dave replied.  "Let us go, and I 
promise not to come back."
     "I'm afraid your crime...well, it's beyond compassion.  I'm just going to 
have to let gravity do the work.  You don't deserve me actually killing you.  
I'll just make sure you're barely conscious as you fall to your deaths." Karen 
began to walk towards them.  "See you in hell."
     As she raised her hand to fire off a final energy-blast...a rose struck the 
ground in front of her.
     "Tuxedo Mask!"  Serena called out happily.
     "Oooh baby!" Andrea replied happily.
     Karen growled.  "I'll just have to kill him first..." she turned around.
     Instead of seeing Tuxedo Mask, though, a large blade came down and imbedded 
itself deep into her shoulder.  Karen gasped as her eyes focused on Sailor 
Saturn holding her Glaive.  "Why...why can't you all show up as a group?" she 
gasped.

     Saturn frowned.  "That's for the idiot who chucked me in the air twice 
yesterday!" 

     She pulled out her weapon as Karen fell to the ground, dropping blood from 
her wound.  Darien stood behind Saturn.  "Sorry we're late!  You wouldn't 
believe what we had to do to find the entrance!"
     Dave nodded.  "Thanks for coming...but we really must go."
     The two joined the group at the end of the tunnel.  Dave nodded and turned 
into a ball of light, taking Rei, Mina and Maury with him first.  The three 
glowing orbs zoomed down to the ground a few hundred feet below.
     Chris turned to Saturn.  "Not too bad." he said.  "For a non-sword."
     She smiled back in response.  "Thanks." 
     Dave's energy-ball returned, taking the two Saturns and Andrea next.
     Lita looked behind her.  "Hey...that chick's still alive."
     Serena walked up to Karen.  "I'm sorry we had to do this." she said 
quietly.
     Karen blinked in response.  "It's okay..." she gasped, holding her 
shoulder.  "I was too caught up in the excitement to notice the Web was doing 
anything wrong."
     Dave returned, taking Darien, Lita and Ami.
     Serena remained.  "Sometimes, we all make mistakes.  Mistakes are just 
bigger for you guys, I guess."
     "Heh..." Karen laughed.  "Yeah, like you...miss thirty-per-cent average at 
school."
     Serena blushed.  "Do you want us to take you too?"
     "No...I'm going to stay." Karen sighed.  "Go out with a bang, I guess...I 
see the self-destruct was activated.  In about a minute, this mountain will be 
reduced to sand-bag filler."
     Serena nodded.  She would have said goodbye, but she was converted into a 
ball of light before she could speak.  Dave took her down the side of the 
mountain, and the two materialized with the rest of the group.  
     Darien gave Serena a hug.  "Are we done here?"
     Dave nodded.  "Yes...thank you all."
     Mina blushed.  "It was the least we could do."
     Dave sighed. 
     "What's wrong?" Mina asked.
     Dave smiled, grabbed Mina, spun her around, and planted a kiss on her lips.  
Mina staggered back in surprise, but quickly kissed back.  
     Chris raised his eyebrows.  "Awww, it's a Generic-Film-Brand-Name moment."
     Rei smiled and whaped him across the head.  "Shut up and let them have 
their moment."
     Dave and Mina parted with a smile.  "I've been wanting to do that all 
week." Mina sighed happily.
     They embraced again as a low rumble filled the air.  Behind them, the Omega 
Web Central Hallways office imploded.  The mountain around it began to cave in 
as three billowing clouds of smoke rose from it's base and fireball shot out 
from the hole they exited by.  It slowly rumbled to the ground as the two parted 
again.  "Wow..." Dave said with a silly smile.  
     Behind them, Chris and Maury stood, watching the mountain explode.  "Now 
THAT is cool..." Chris said in awe.
     "Yeah..." Maury agreed. 
     "Fire!  Fire!  FIRE!" Chris head banged.
     "Duhhhh- DUHH-DUUUUUUUUHHH!" Maury joined in to the tune of 'Get your
Gunn.'
     Rei and Lita stood watching them.  "We must be crazy." Lita sighed.
     "Yup." Rei agreed with a smile.
     They also began head banging as the mountain settled in a pile of crushed 
rock. 
















                                   Chapter 28








     "So you finally remembered your Jan Ken Pon attack??" Sharon asked.  "I'm 
so proud of you!"
     Andrea smiled at her older sister.  "Thank you.  Oh, and I believe this 
belongs to you..." she handed over the Talisman of Time.  
     She accepted it and smiled.  "Well, at least I know Time is in good hands 
if something ever happens to me."
     Andrea gasped.  "Nothing better happen to you!  It's hard being responsible 
for guarding the past, present and future!" 
     Uranus and Neptune joined in the conversation.  Uranus had been fine.  All 
she had was a few broken ribs, and was now laying on the couch of Sharon's 
apartment.  "Well, you did fine, Andrea.  You make me feel proud to be an Outer 
Scout."
     Andrea shrugged.  "Just doing my job." she smiled.
     "Well, I'm going to visit the others.  Anyone wanna come?" Neptune said, 
standing up.  Her arm was fractured from the fight, but otherwise, no long-term 
damage.  Even at their darkest hours, the Scouts managed to take a beating and 
live to tell about it.
     "Well," Andrea explained.  "Ami's studying, Rei and Chris are out on the 
town...Darien and Serena are probably humping each other's brains out...Maury 
and Lita too...and Dave took Mina for a trip."
     "A trip?" Sharon asked.
     "Apparently, they're seeing the world." she smiled.  "With Dave's 
teleporting and her love of travel, they were a perfect match.  They'll be gone 
for a few months at least."
     "Are you going to be in Japan for a while?" Sharon asked.  "It would be 
nice for you to visit for a while."
     Andrea sighed.  "Well, summer's only a month and a half away.  We'll be 
coming back then."
     She nodded.  "Okay...but I consider that a promise!" she smiled.
     





     "I'm surprised you aren't checking out your new laptop." Rei smiled as she 
and Chris walked down the street.
     "That thing?  Hell, I'll have lots of time to screw with it." Chris smiled, 
giving her a hug.  "YOU on the other hand, I only see a few weeks out of the 
year."
     Rei smiled.  "So, I'm still wondering how you changed your suit."
     "Well, you got your upgraded suit, I decided to get a change too." Chris 
said.  "By the way, I love those shoulder fins." he smiled.
     "Still not good for fighting in Winter, though." she joked.
     "Anyway, whenever I add things to my suit they stay.  That's how I kept my 
computer and stuff when I transformed." Chris explained. 
     Rei nodded.  "Well well well...where do I begin?"
     "What?"
     "Well, you did say for me to tell you what's been going on this last year." 
Rei said.  "Do you know about the Pegasus?"
     Chris blinked.  "Uh?"
     Rei smiled.  "Come on, I'll tell you all about it over dinner."
     






     Mina and Dave lay on a deserted bank of the Rio Grande, looking up at the 
stars. "Whatcha thinking about?" Mina asked.
     Dave shrugged, enjoying the feel of grass underneath his back.  "I was just 
thinking."
     "Anything I'd understand?" Mina smiled. 
     He nodded. "Oh yes...you helped teach it to me.  I've been thinking on how, 
as corny as it sounds, love crosses all boundaries and helps us to think clearly 
even when we think we're blinded by it."
     Mina whistled.  "Wow!  I didn't think I was THAT good of a teacher."
     He smiled and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek.  "Oh yes...and more.  Once 
we're done this trip, I'm going to go back to the Web and make sure we do things 
right."
     Mina smiled.
     "There's probably about a dozen or so new Omega-Web members out there.  
We'll have to make sure they don't turn out to be more Ckays, but at least now, 
we know what to look for and avoid." Dave explained.  "Then, we're going to 
help."
     "Help?"
     "Yes.  We're not just going to watch, or help in extreme crisis like 
before.  We'll offer our services to the world as protectors and advisors.  We 
won't force anything...and we'll take it slow so the rest of the Earth isn't 
struggling to catch up...but I think we can still be of service."
     Mina gave him a hug.  "That sounds great." she paused.  "And now...what 
about us?  What are we going to do?"
     Dave shrugged.  "Who knows." he took a deep breath.  "Even if it doesn't 
work out between a Sailor Scout and an Omega Webber, you gotta admit we'll have 
some fun." he smiled as they kissed again.  "Just relax and enjoy life for a 
while, not having to worry about fighting and death and destruction...just you 
and me."
     "Why Dave Reinquest..." Mina smiled, laying on his chest.  "I think you've 
just cracked it."
     "Cracked what?" Dave asked as Mina snuggled down on his stomach.
     "What humanity is all about." Mina smiled.
     














                                   Epilogue
                                
     If Dave and Mina could have seen far enough, they could have been looking 
right at it.  
     A small, dying sun on the fringe of the Galactic arm.
     Around that sun, a tiny, Earth-like planet orbited.  Actually, it was Earth 
only in size.  Otherwise, it was a barren rock...void of life for centuries... 
maybe more.
     A millennium ago, it was different, but like so many other things in the 
galaxy, it changed.  A millennium ago.  Such a long time.  A hundred generations 
gone by.  Both people and rock cannot last forever.  
     Not even the sun over which they circled.  
     Not even the light. 

     Light cannot last forever...and when it is gone...the darkness comes.

     On the surface of this tiny, Earth-like planet, a decaying building stood 
out in the open.  Under the reddish, dying star.  Inside this temple, light 
could not even penetrate when it was from a strong star.
     Inside this musty, ancient temple, sat a series of stones.
     A series of twenty or so.
     Large rings of stone arranged in a long tube.  The centre of each ring 
encircled a glowing crystal rod.  It glowed a beautiful bright blue.  A decoy 
colour.  A camouflage used by something void of colour...  Something terrible.  
     A terrible force.  
     It could have been the force of Death...but death was too kind.  This was 
evil.  Not just an evil object.  This was EVIL.
     Closer study about the rocks encasing it showed that all but six had 
crumbled.  Large lengths of the blue crystal cylinder were visible under the 
gaps in the stones.  It looked like it was breaking free.  It wasn't.  It was 
being SET free.

     Set free...bit by bit...
                              By the people of Earth.
                               By the Sailor Scouts.

     One of the rocks suddenly shattered.  It crumbled to the ground in a dusty 
heap.  In a long forgotten language, the series of symbols on the stone 
represented one word.  Though the translation was rough, and hardly accurate... 
it was the equivalence of the word 

                                   "Humanity."
     









 
                                    THE END











--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<Chibi Writer Fiss smiles and puts down the keyboard>  Damn that one's long.  
^_^   Hi everyone!  Fissy here again.  Thanks for reading SMAR 5, this time all 
nice N fixed up.  Yup yup!  If you're reading this for the first time, this is a 
revision of the old original.  Don't worry, nothing has been cut, and actually, 
things have been added and fixed.  

The Omega Web, if you've read ahead, is a major key point in the Omoi series.  
(AR, SK, and future Strike Fiss N Co. related stories).  It's hard to write 
something that's supposed to be so advanced, but I hope the introduction, and 
future instances of the OW are realistic and fun enough for everyone to enjoy. 
^_^ Hey, it's just a story.  Enjoy it. 

Also, you'll notice with the Epilogue a continuing theme that will stretch all 
the way into the end of AR.  I like to think of it as the Tumbler Arch. ^_^ And 
it is the key focus of AR now that all the major introductions have been 
settled.  Keep an eye out for more!

Mmmm, what else.  I'd like to also thank a few people, most notably Draxel and 
Tozetre, who have helped me refine a lot of the ideas involving the Omega Web, 
and how the earth reflects the changes happening.  Also to Jhonen Vasquez, 
writer and artist of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.  Always a fun time, and a 
hearty source of subversive literature!  I ask you all to go out and buy many 
many copies of this comic.  Spooooooky!  Other than that, I shall now sign off.  



Sailor Strike Fiss Says:

"Remember kids, we're all humans on the same planet.  Respect each other, and 
find value in a person's mind if you can't find it else-where.  If you act sub-
human, though, and are a complete asshole, remember, you always have the option 
of leaving.  I hear space is nice N cool this time of year.  Brr. ^_^  Later!"  



As always, you can contact me at:

e-mail:  strikef@bigfoot.com
homepage1:  www.studioshinnyo.com
homepage2:  www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110


Strike Fiss, Studio Shinnyo 2000.  Khattam-Shud, EOF.