Notes:

WARNING: This chapter contains disturbing content that may be triggering to some, including depictions of abuse and suicide.

Chapter 27: Reconnaissance

Crossroads

The Lighthouse

A cacophony of raised voices filled the Crossroads. The gathering place beneath the Lighthouse's central spire was packed with visitors from four of the five Vertices, all in an uproar, all talking over each other.

"- was sitting right next to Chibi-Usa-chan when she just vanished into thin air-"

"- ship's logs say that Alph was in her room until a few minutes ago, and now-"

"Please, if anyone has seen Erika-"

"Everybody, settle down! It's the MIRROR, she already explained to us-"

"Minako-chan says Rei-chan disappeared too! Right in front of her! You're telling me Chibi-Usa's gone too?!"

"- about 145 centimeters tall, with dark blue eyes and wavy hair. Y-you should be able to find her by her voice, Erika is always quite loud-"

"Hello?! I said we know what's happening! It's Sakura's MIRROR Card, and- Aiya, Toya-san, nobody's listening to me...!"

"Oi, koumusume! Maybe start crackin' some heads together kung-fu style and that'll get their attention!"

"Listen, you little-"

"Everyone, QUIET!" The roar from Fantine's winged avatar shook the Lighthouse. Literally, there was no hyperbole involved: the volume of her voice made the entire crystalline structure tremble down to its foundations. It did the trick; the many people gathered in the Crossroads all fell silent at once.

The winged spark let out the sound of a deep sigh. "I'm sorry for losing control like that, but I need you all to calm down. There is an explanation. Meilin, I believe you were trying to tell us something..."

"Er." Now that all eyes were on her, the Hong Kongese girl blushed and fidgeted with one of her jet-black pigtails. "It... it was Sakura's MIRROR Card. The MIRROR, and a bunch of copies of her," said Meilin Li. "It was the copies that disappeared, and our friends are... well, we don't know."

"They're off doing something incredibly foolish," Fantine cut in. Her avatar's wings fluttered in agitation. "Nine of them decided to take revenge against Dead End by themselves-"

"That's crazy!" Kero bellowed from the vicinity of Meilin's shoulder. "Nine of them against an army of bad guys? What kinda idiot would come up with a plan as stupid as that?!"

The pupil of Fate Testarossa's remaining eye shrank to a pinprick. Her blood ran cold, and her right socket felt a good deal more empty all of a sudden, as if a frigid wind was trapped beneath her closed eyelid. "Oh no," she whispered to herself. "Alph..."

"Are you telling me..." said Toya Kinomoto, slowly and dangerously. "Are you telling me. That someone took my little sister straight into the enemy's base...?"

Usagi Tsukino went pale. Sakura's older brother was terrifying when he got mad. "K-Kinomoto-san, I'm sure she's all right, she's got Rei-chan and Chibi-Usa-chan and Michiru-san with her-"

Toya rounded on her, eyes ablaze, and for an instant Usagi flinched, certain he was about to take a swing at her.

Tsubomi Hanasaki threw up her hands. "Everyone, please! Fighting each other isn't going to solve anything!" She swallowed and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "F-Fantine-san, it'll be all right, won't it? The Stranger can just open a door for them and bring them back... right...?"

"I can't." Fantine's answer was terse and direct. "The Stranger was badly injured by the Time Reaper in Usagi's world and hasn't fully recovered yet. Even if she were at her best, I wouldn't let her go. There's too much chance that someone from Dead End could follow her back through a door, and I cannot let Joker or any of his soldiers find the Lighthouse."

Another storm of voices rose in protest.

"But Chibi-Usa-chan has the future Silver Crystal with her!" said Hotaru Tomoe, louder and angrier than anyone who knew her had ever heard her speak. "If we don't bring her back-"

"And Sakura is one of the Three, we can't just leave her there!" Kero added, shaking a tiny paw.

"Erika is my best friend-"

"Alph is family, there's no way I'll let-"

"There's got to be something we can do-"

The portal leading to Vertex Five rippled like the surface of a pond after a stone is thrown through it. Into the chaos stepped Madoka Kaname, pale-faced and shaken. "I-" she stammered. "I heard Fantine-san's voice from our room, a-and then I heard shouting... what's going on?" She turned to the tiny yellow creature on Meilin's shoulder, the one Sakura called "Kero-chan". The one who rarely left her side... Him being here while Sakura wasn't was proof enough for her that something was wrong. "Did... did something happen to Sakura-chan...?"

La Fin de Toute

(formerly Galactica Palace)

Entrance

"Two zero four six... zero one."

All of Alph's fur bristled at once. That voice was like a swarm of rats running down her neck and spine to the tip of her tail and back again with cold, dirty little paws, setting her every nerve on edge. Whatever the voice signified, all of the wolf familiar's senses bellowed at her to pull back, run, take the others and just get out...

Then Alph remembered Fate lying in emergency surgery, with the medics swarming around her as they staunched the bleeding from her empty eye socket. She remembered watching the garbled holo-log recovered from Bardiche of the Carnaaji incident, and the Viluy woman's cold, triumphant sneer as she hovered before Fate's paralyzed form, inches away yet miles out of remembered how that footage, corrupted as it was, managed to capture the unthinkable agony of Fate's scream as her tormentor slowly, carefully extracted her eye with her bare fingers.

Those thoughts smothered her instinct to run under a crushing, desperate need to make Viluy pay. "Everyone," she said to the others. "Stay on your guard, don't-"

But the others weren't there. Alph was alone.

What was more, she no longer standing in the entrance hall of the former Galactica Palace. Now she stood in a place out of her memories, a place she tried so often to forget...

The Garden of Time. Precia Testarossa's fortress. Her former home. In that same hall where she sat too many times, helpless, listening to Fate scream in the next room as her mother whipped her without mercy... for no crime save being unable to fulfill her mad and desperate whims.

Now it was quiet. Too quiet.

It's a spell. Alph shook herself and dug her claws into her palms to keep focus. Some kind of illusion spell. The Garden of Time was destroyed. It's all a trick, it's-

That thought came crashing to a halt as Precia Testarossa herself swept through the double doors. Tall, severe, and cold, someone who had once been both a great beauty and a great mage, only to lose that beauty to sickness and insanity. Her dark eyes stared at Alph out of a sunken, pallid face as she spoke. "Alph," was all she said, but her name was delivered with the same calm, unfeeling disdain that Alph so hated...

"You," Alph spat, throwing up a barrier out of instinct. An illusion, it had to be, but that was Precia's expression, that was her voice... Even her scent, that frigid, superior, wilted flower scent that followed her like a persistent cloud... all just as she remembered. "You're dead, you can't be-"

"Why are you still here? Did I not tell you once already?" Precia drawled. "A dog that cannot follow its master's orders... is useless."

"You're not my master, you bitch!" Alph snarled. Her ears turned back as far as they could go. "You never were!"

"I never claimed to be." Precia arched a thin eyebrow... and threw something at Alph's feet from underneath her voluminous black cloak. "But seeing as your true master is indefinitely indisposed..."

"Wha-" And part of Alph's soul withered away, for lying there, small and broken on the floor and staring vacantly at nothing, was Fate. Her Barrier Jacket was torn open, her lovely eyes blank, her bare back crisscrossed with countless angry red welts, many welling with blood. A thin, clear trail trickled from one corner of her mouth.

"Fate!" Falling to her knees, Alph seized hold of her master. "Fate, what did she do to you?! Please, answer me! Fate..."

There was no reply save for shallow, labored breathing. Fate's head lolled sickeningly to one side, a doll's head on a loose hinge.

Precia's voice drifted over her from somewhere far away: "She stopped screaming only minutes into her usual punishment and could not be roused from this state. It appears that neither of you will be of any more use to me."

Trembling, Alph hugged Fate's limp form tightly to herself, as if she could squeeze the life back into her by sheer force of will. "Fate," she whispered. "Fate, no. Please, wake up. Please, don't leave me..." All those times that Precia sent Fate out after the Jewel Seeds, all those times that Alph feared that Fate would kill herself trying to please this madwoman, she was at least consoled by the grim comfort that if Fate died in her efforts, they would both die. As master and familiar, the link between their souls would terminate, and they would at least be together in the next world, free from Precia's cruelty. This was far worse; Fate was left alive but unresponsive, incoherent... a living death, for however long it took for her body to give out. Just as Alph always feared would happen. All the magic in the worlds couldn't revive a shattered mind.

The cloak swirled in a petulant fashion as Precia turned back to her chamber. No sympathy, not even a second look for her daughter or for her daughter's familiar... to her, sympathy was an alien concept, and compassion but a weakness. "If you must hold onto that trash," she said, "I expect you to ensure that it does not start to smell. You can be useful for that much, I should hope."

The heavy double doors slammed, leaving Alph and her poor, broken, all but lifeless master in the dark...

"Two zero four six... zero one."

Michiru Kaioh, Sailor Neptune, stood still as stone. Galactica Palace, her teammates, the mission, everyone and everything else fell away from her, her attention locked solely on the figure before her:

Haruka. It was Haruka. Tall and handsome and radiant as ever, wearing her leather jacket and looking as if she just stepped off her beloved motorcycle back home. She tucked her helmet under the crook of her arm and shook her head, droplets of sweat flying from her platinum locks. Haruka looked at Neptune and waved, flashed a dazzling grin, beckoned her closer...

And from the inner folds of her jacket she drew her sacred Talisman, the Space Sword, unsheathed the glowing blade from its scabbard, and ran it through her own stomach, smiling all the while.

Neptune didn't move.

Haruka laughed, blood bubbling from her lips as she staggered forward, the sword embedded in her gut. A pool of red blossomed from the wound, staining her jacket and her blouse beneath it. Her eyes stayed locked with Neptune's even as their light faded. She took a step toward her, two steps, three, four... then teetered to one side and collapsed, her final rattling breath hanging between them in the frozen air.

Silence. The softest whisper could have been heard in the pall that followed.

That silence was only broken when Neptune laughed, a pained and bitter sound. "I see," she said to the emptiness around her. "So that's it. That's what it is."

All around her, more Harukas stepped out of the black, brandishing their own weapons: not only swords, but knives, guns of every size, style, and caliber, countless different instruments of torture and pain... and one by one, they all took those weapons upon themselves. Haruka Tennoh died by her own hand, a dozen times over, a hundred times, a thousand times, each more brutal than the last...

And Neptune watched it all. "Really," she said, not budging an inch. "You should have stopped while you were ahead. The first one was novel, but this is is just desperate." The Deep Aqua Mirror materialized in her hands, and in its impossibly smooth surface Neptune saw her own face, calm and serene... but only on the surface. The Mirror reflected truth, and in it she saw the endless suffering and heartache she had endured ever since Haruka first attacked her and broke her arm back on Earth. "I don't know where you are, Joker-san, but I know you're watching." Neptune closed her eyes and raised the Mirror high, summoning . "If you think you can incapacitate me by showing me my worst nightmare, my Hell, you're badly mistaken. I see my worst nightmare every time I close my eyes when Haruka isn't there. I'm already living through my personal Hell, and it's every single second that she isn't by my side. Submarine Reflection!"

Cleansing light cascaded from the surface of the glass like tides of seafoam, washing away the emptiness, the shadows, the bodies upon bodies. Everything in the palace's entrance hall that was not fully real melted away...

"Everyone," said Neptune, her voice ringing out like the tolling of a great church bell. "What you're seeing and feeling isn't real, It's all a trick. Pull yourselves together, we have a mission to complete!"

Alph was first to respond, sucking in a greedy breath as if emerging from deep underwater. "D-dammit, what kind of s-sick trap-" she stammered, rubbing her arms in a vain attempt to smooth some of the goosebumps that studded her every inch of bare flesh. Alph was proud of how sharp her animal senses were, and whatever that was had fooled those senses and pulled her in just like it pulled in all the others save Neptune. "I knew it wasn't real at first, but then I saw-" Her throat grew so tight that she could hardly breathe, and more goosebumps rose as her stomach did a half-turn. The feeling of cradling Fate's limp body in her arms was still all too fresh. "N-Neptune, how did you-"

"Later," said Neptune without looking. The spell had to be maintained until the rest snapped out of it. "Help the others, we don't have much time."

Erika Kurumi, Cure Marine, emerged from the illusion with her eyes gummy and her lips bitter from the taste of tears. She promptly retched onto the palace floor, for the sensations of reverting from a toddler's mind and body back to a teenager's in the space of seconds... her memories and personality rushing back into her brain too fast, her limbs spasming from conflicting nerve impulses, the disorientation of suddenly being far taller and heavier than a moment ago... Marine retched a second time and banished those sensations to the darkest corner of her mind, vowing to never recall them if she could possibly help it. "What-" She heaved, fighting not to be sick again. "Wh-what was that?! That... that was hell..."

"Muh-Marine..." Iona Hikawa, Cure Fortune, was next to rise, but she battled with a terrible temptation to drop back to the floor and go fetal. God, she could still see Maria in the split-second before that terrible metallic crash. There were fresh tears on her cheeks; Fortune couldn't tell if they were from relief that it didn't happen, or fear that it still could. There were tears, and they wouldn't stop.

Nagisa Misumi, Cure Black, leaned against a pillar for support, breathing hard. Every few seconds, she pinched her left arm and felt her pulse, just to be absolutely sure it was still attached and still healthy. What the others went through, she could only imagine, but the experience of being drawn back into the memory of perhaps her lowest point, and seeing and feeling what would have happened had she given up back then... Honoka, she thought to herself, pinching her arm even harder. Honoka. She repeated her partner's name as a litany and swore to make Joker pay.

In a daze, Kirara Amanogawa, Cure Twinkle, ran her hands over her face over and over. No cuts, no blood, no scars, only unblemished skin, slightly wet from her tears. Was it really just an illusion? The agony of her torture at Towa's hands felt far too raw, too authentic to be fake. Was the torture real after all, and the smoothness she felt through her gloves a delusion generated by her mind to try to cope with the horror? Twinkle teetered on a precipice, a few steps away from losing her grip on reality... but Fortune's hand seizing hers to help her up pulled her back from the abyss. Twinkle mumbled a quick "thanks" and shook herself into action, pushing her doubts back down. Crazy people didn't question if they were crazy.

Rei Hino, Sailor Mars, flickered like an image on an old television with bad reception. The delicate equilibrium between her two selves was lost; even standing up was beyond her for the moment. Dimly, she heard a few of the others hovering over her, asking if she was all right. Their voices were muffled and distorted, as if heard through water. A thin stream of smoking blood trickled down her upper lip. If she couldn't stabilize herself-

No.

I'm Rei Hino, dammit.

I am Sailor Mars.

It was just a trick, a cowardly trick.

I will not lose control.

I am in control.

I am Rei Hino, I am Sailor Mars...

Her lips moved furiously with the words of her most trusted mantra as she repeated it over and over to herself. Little by little, Mars's flickers lessened in number and severity, the flow of blood from her nose thinned to a stop. "I'll be okay," she said to Alph as she tested her weight on first one knee, then the other. Still wobbly, but getting better.

As awful as she still felt from the words of the false Clow Reed, Sakura Kinomoto couldn't dwell on her own pain. There were more pressing concerns: for one, while trapped in the illusion, she dropped her Sealing Wand. It was lying abandoned on the floor next to her when she awoke, with the Illusion Card at its side, dormant once more. That meant that back at the lighthouse, MIRROR and her copies had been discovered. She had hoped she could maintain ILLUSION for at least a few more hours, but if they were found out now... I'm sorry, onii-chan, Kero-chan, Yukito-san, she thought miserably when she laid eyes on the Card. No doubt they were hurt and betrayed by her deception. Not to mention the feelings of all the others the MIRROR copies interacted with.

However horrible that was, there was now a bigger problem still: Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Sailor Chibi-Moon, was still caught in the remnants of whatever nightmare tormented her. She sat splay-legged on the floor in an awkward position, her crimson eyes glazed, staring at nothing and refusing to be roused no matter how hard Sakura shook her.

"Chibi-Moon," begged Sakura again, digging her fingers into the pink Senshi's shoulders. "Chibi-Moon, please get up! It wasn't real, we have to get moving!"

No response from Chibi-Moon. Her mind refused to accept the reality of Sakura shaking her and calling her name. Her worst fear, the nightmare that still woke her up in a cold sweat at least once a month, had been confirmed: Wiseman wasn't truly dead, and Black Lady had returned. Nothing could convince her that wasn't the case. Even the hands on her shoulders and the faint voice in her ear could easily be just another of Wiseman's sadistic tricks, an attempt to fool her into let down her remaining defenses so that he could taint whatever part of herself was left to resist him. She wouldn't be fooled, not again. Being trapped inside her own warped and corrupted body was terrible enough; to lose herself completely... no, she couldn't let that happen...

"Somebody, help me!" Sakura cried back over her shoulder to the others. "I can't wake Chibi-Moon up!"

Mars came running as soon as she was able to stand, but even she and Sakura together couldn't free Chibi-Moon from her nightmare...

Every able-bodied member of Dead End cleared the palace's halls in a mad scramble. Even the monsters too stupid to form coherent sentences fled in terror when they felt the presence of Joker's Time Reaper, the cold and lifeless miasma of an aura that preceded it wherever it went and lingered long after it was gone. The Time Reaper never spoke, never made a sound, and could only be ordered by Joker himself. When it was summoned, it rose from out of the floor in an incorporeal state, and when its job was finished, it sank back down to the depths in the same manner. No one knew exactly what the Reaper was, where it came from, where it lived in the palace, or if it was even alive at all. Even Lady Viluy wasn't privy to the Reaper's secrets.

A low-ranking Youma and a Phage on the forty-fourth floor clawed and battered at each other, fighting to be the first through a doorway too small for them both. They both felt the seeping chill, they knew the Reaper was on its way somewhere. Neither of them wished to be anywhere near it when it passed their way.

The Phage, a lanky figure made of a sea-green glasslike substance and resembling a wine bottle, succeeded in shoving the Youma out of his way. That Youma, a green-skinned hag with flyaway black hair named Balm, stumbled into the hall. She screeched with rage, and great locks of her hair rose up as if defying gravity, wrapping around themselves until they tapered down into deadly sharp points. Weaving back and forth like snakes, they pulled back and prepared to strike.

That was when all the blood drained from Balm's face, leaving it a sickly mint color. In her anger at Sailor Sommelier, she had forgotten the Reaper. Now she saw it streaking down the hall toward her, floating a foot above the floor with no means of support, the terrible burning blade of its scythe extended. Balm knew she was foolish to fight with Sommelier, she knew she was doomed. No chance of leaping out of its way; her legs were frozen, rooted to the spot with fear. In desperation, the Youma threw up her hands and let out a hideous scream...

The Reaper didn't stop. It didn't even turn. It charged ahead in a straight line with singleminded purpose, a missile fired out of some ghastly cannon. A meter away, then half a meter, then a quarter-

It passed through Balm's body as if it were air and kept on going, continuing its relentless flight to the entrance hall. All the Youma felt was an unearthly cold wind blowing upon most of her left side, as deep and bitter as a mountain's peak in midwinter.

From the doorway, Sailor Sommelier blinked and stared.

Mystified, Balm looked down at her chest and stomach and gingerly patted them, making sure they were still intact. The Reaper left not even a scratch, not a mark of any kind, even though she felt and saw its scythe pass through her. By some miracle, she was safe. Balm sighed and grinned with pure, stupid relief... just before every part of her body that the Reaper touched turned black and crumbled into dust. Her one remaining eye widened in its socket, and her half-jaw slackened in shock as what was left of her collapsed in on itself in a heap.

Sailor Sommelier fled through the doorway, ducked against the nearest wall, and covered his ears. It wasn't enough to block out the sound of what was left of Balm, howling in mindless agony.

"Chibi-Moon... Chibi-Moon! Damn it..." Mars swore. They were rapidly running out of time, and Chibi-Moon still wouldn't budge, wouldn't wake up. For lack of anything else to do, Mars slapped her across the cheek, leaving an angry red mark. The pink Senshi didn't even blink.

Frigid coldness ran down Sakura's back like a waterfall. She knew. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. Her voice trembled as she spoke to the others: "It's coming."

"What?" said Fortune, who was tempted to tear her hair out in agitation. Of the many things they tried to free Chibi-Moon from her stasis, one of her ideas was to haul the Senshi upright and carry her out of there piggyback-style. Even with her Cure form's strength, Fortune almost threw out her back trying. Whatever spell Chibi-Moon was under, it was like she was made of lead. "Kinomoto, what's coming?!"

"The Time Reaper," Sakura whispered.

"The what?!" said Black, Marine, and Twinkle simultaneously... but the effect on Mars, Neptune, and Alph was immediate. Neptune dropped her spell; it wasn't helping Chibi-Moon, and the Reaper was more of a threat than any illusion. Mars's face went pale, and she and Neptune both began to shake their comrade, pleading with her to move.

Alph snarled and bared her claws as she moved to stand in front of the rest of them. All she knew was that the Viluy woman mentioned a "Time Reaper" in the footage recovered from Bardiche... it was involved in the resurrection of the Book of Darkness, the apparent brainwashing of Hayate, and the reprogramming and shutdown of the Wolkenritter. The reactions of Sakura and the Sailor Senshi were all the confirmation she needed that whatever this Reaper was, it posed an immediate danger to them all. Her spell circle glowed vermillion at her feet as she called upon her mana and began to set up a barrier-

"Alph-san, no!" Sakura latched onto her arm, her eyes wild. "You can't fight it, we've got to get out of here, right now!"

"No way, Kinomoto, we've come this far, we can't just quit!"

"That thing destroyed my whole city by itself!"

Whatever plan Alph had been concocting, she abandoned it. "Damn," she hissed between clenched teeth. "All right, everyone stand back. If none of you can move Chibi, let me try. I'll transport her out of here if I have to."

"What the hell is that?!" Marine pointed to the northeast hall. Barrelling down the hall was what appeared to be Death itself, its midnight cloak blowing wide behind it as it made a beeline for them with fantastic speed. It was utterly silent, but its presence... Alph's skin crawled and her fur bristled from its inexplicable chill. No one and nothing she ever felt had an aura like that. "Everyone," she said, her heart heavy with the knowledge of what she now had to do. "Break off, if she can't get up, we don't have a choice but to-"

Before she could finish giving the dreaded order, a miracle happened: Chibi-Moon stirred on her own. Some of the light returned to her glazed eyes as her lips moved in a daze. "Wh-"

"Chibi-Moon!"

"Chibi-Usa-chan, get out of the way!"

Chibi-Moon stared. It was the thing from the school roof, the thing that reminded her so much of Wiseman, that caused the true Sailor Saturn to awaken within Hotaru with its mere presence. It was screaming toward them, toward her, like a runaway train, scythe raised and ready to tear them to pieces. The freezing, dead aura it exuded sank deep into her bones, her legs turned to jelly, there was no way she could dodge it in time. All the others scattered, now there were less than two meters between her and its horrible blade. It closed the distance in an eyeblink. Chibi-Moon's life flashed before her eyes, the air whooshed as the scythe carved a swath through it. She was going to die here, so far from home, from her own time, she would never see Hotaru, Diana, Usagi, Mamoru, or her mother and father again-

The scythe fell.

It missed Chibi-Moon by the merest fraction of an inch, coming down between her splayed legs, so close that the burning crackle of its blade's energy tingled on her bare skin. That blade carved through the floor like butter, leaving a gash a meter long, a gash that raced through the marble from one end of the massive hall to the other.

Chibi-Moon gaped in disbelief.

An instant later, the entire floor of the palace's entrance hall split into fragments, crumbled, and broke apart. Nine figures fell screaming into the darkness, while the Reaper floated in place, its empty eye sockets watching from beneath its hood...

Inner Chambers

"No! No, no, no, no, enfoiré! How in all Hells did you miss that?!" Joker raged at the holo, froth flying from his mouth as he watched the entrance hall floor collapse. On the screen, the Reaper had no reaction to the tirade, if it could even hear it. It hovered over the void, apparently awaiting more orders.

"Master Joker," said Viluy at his side. Whether the intruders were dead or not was of no real concern to her. As long as there was data still to be gathered from them, one state of being was much the same as the other. "If you wish, I can calculate their trajectories and determine where each of them will fall-"

"Viluy, sweetness," Joker hissed, whirling on her with his eyes ablaze. "Ma flocon de neige, about the Insecurity System, please remind me again... what was it you said when you installed it?"

"I am accessing my memory files of that conversation now," said Viluy. Her master's sarcasm flew past her without stopping; someone as devoted to research and science as she was had no use for a sense of humor.

"Don't bother, now I remember." The harlequin took on a monotone falsetto that was a deliberately poor imitation of her voice. "'Master Joker, according to my calculations, the system is infallible. Intruders will be incapacitated by their own deepest worries and anxieties, there is no defense against it.'"

"Yes, sir."

"'No defense against it,' you said," Joker continued. "'Infallible,'" you said. Well, my dear, I'm looking at fairly convincing evidence that at least one of them disagrees with you. Imagine that! Defeating an infallible system! Why, mon dieu, that must be some kind of miracle!"

"Sir, I understand you are upset-"

"Upset? Oh, non, non, madame. Why would I be upset? It's a joyous occasion! A miracle, right here in our home! What other explanation could there be, hmm...?"

"Sir," said Viluy, this time with more force. "If I may, my nanobots have informed me that the intruders were scattered by the fall." A list scrolled down the surface of her retina. "The Harlaown girl's familiar, Sailor Neptune, and Cure Marine are near my laboratory, so I shall confront them directly, by your leave."

"Oh, go," said Joker, waving a hand in disgust. "Wouldn't want anyone breaking your toys, now would you. What about the others?"

"Cure Black and Cure Fortune are three hundred seventy five point six four meters from the Merry-Go-Round's main battery, a Droid is moving to intercept. Sailor Mars and Cure Twinkle are unconscious on the twenty-second floor, south-southwest corridor number 318, leading to Sector Iota's living quarters. And Sailor Chibi-Moon and the Cardcaptor-"

"Which ones are they?" said an impatient voice from behind her.

Viluy turned a cool eye on the new arrival. "Miki," she said. "If you wish to make yourself more useful, please allow me to install a datalink upgrade in your visual cortex via nanosurgery-"

"Not interested," said Sayaka Miki. Her features twisted at the thought of becoming anything like the barely-human computerized monstrosity Viluy had turned herself into. "Just tell me who I'm looking for and where to find them."

"Ah, Mademoiselle Miki," said Joker, beaming at the Puella Magi. Nothing like a loyal soldier ready and willing to kill her former allies of her own free will to brighten the mood. "Impeccable timing. Viluy, if you please."

Viluy waved a hand and brought up another holo. "Sakura Kinomoto and Usagi 'Chibi-Usa' Tsukino, alias Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity Tsukino, alias Sailor Chibi-Moon. My network has placed their location at forty point two meters from Jamais Ville's westernmost border."

Sayaka's cerulean eyes bored into the images of the two girls, both in pink. Her expression was unreadable as she committed them to memory. Finally she asked, "Is Akemi with them?"

"I'm afraid not, ma sirène," said Joker. "Your revenge will have to wait for another day. The Cardcaptor - that's the one on the left - is one of the Three, though. She'll be the one you want to capture alive. Get the Silver Crystal from the pink spore if you can, and kill her if you like afterward, but Mademoiselle Kinomoto is far more important."

"Roger." Sayaka bowed to Joker and turned on her heel, her cape swirling behind her. One hand was already on the hilt of her cutlass.

Once she was gone, Joker leaned close to Viluy, all agrin. "Not that I don't have faith in my steadfast little soldier, but... Viluy, have one of your underlings release one of the Hybrids to assist her, if you please."

"Yes, sir."

22nd Floor, Sector Iota

South-Southwest Corridor #318

Mars awoke to a pounding headache. Upon investigation, she concluded that it was lucky that was all; above her was a gaping hole in the ceiling, and another hole above that, and another, and another, up further than the eye could see.

"Nnngh," moaned someone next to her. "Are we dead?" said Twinkle, who was covered in dust and debris but otherwise unharmed.

"Sorry, not yet," said Mars, extending a hand to help her up.

"The others?"

Mars shook her head. "No sign of them. We must have gotten separated during the fall."

"Rats." Twinkle made a valiant attempt to comb some of the powdery dirt out of her hair, to little success. "At least we still have those ESD thingies that Miss Fluffy gave us, right? We can give them a call."

Mars stared. "'Miss Fluffy...?'"

"Alph." Twinkle shrugged. "Best nickname I could come up with."

"I don't think I'd let her hear you call her that if I were you, Amanogawa. Anyway, let's try one." In truth, Mars had forgotten about her device. It was clipped to her belt when she transformed, and now when she felt around for it in pocketspace, her fingers traced over a hard little plaststeel alloy casing that hadn't been there before. Retrieving it, she pressed the inviting red button in the center and spoke to it. "This is Sailor Mars, can anyone hear me?"

White noise was the only response.

"So much for that," Twinkle grumbled. "I hope they're just jamming us, because if these things are broken and we're stuck here-"

"Don't think about it." Mars had the same thought, and it turned her stomach. "Let's just keep moving. Maybe we can find some of the prisoners while we look for the others."

"Where are we, anyway?" said Twinkle, rising to her feet and brushing off her skirts. "The decor kinda clashes with what we saw up in the hall..."

That was an understatement. The entrance hall resembled some impossibly vast temple, with great pillars that resembled ancient Greek architecture but were made of something far more advanced than marble. This area, wherever it was, looked like it belonged in one of those hard sci-fi films that Umino liked, the ones where exploring the universe generally came second to finding aliens and blasting them into bloody chunks. Mars was never a fan of those, but half of her knew movies well enough to recognize the type: austere bulkheads in various shades of gunmetal grey and brown, rows upon rows of doors marked only with numbers, doors that looked like they probably went whoosh and opened themselves when one stepped near them. Low, blue-ish lighting, and lots and lots of straight, hard edges with very few curves. "My guess is either storage or soldiers' quarters. See the numbers?"

"Great." Twinkle crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks. "So it's either a bunch of guys that want to kill us, or a bunch of stuff to kill us with. Super."

"Shhh!" said Mars, holding a finger to her lips. "Someone's coming," she said in an urgent whisper. "There's nowhere to hide, so get ready to fight them off."

All of Twinkle's flippance vanished. Her face hardened as she summoned her Crystal Rod with a gesture and locked her Meteor Key into place on its crown. Privately, she hoped that whoever came around the corner could lead them to Nehelenia... or whoever was responsible for the vivid nightmares in the entrance hall. There were scores to settle.

The rapid footsteps approaching from around the nearest corner didn't sound like Nehelenia, though. She never ran, she glided. Even her hallucinations knew that.

"It sounds like just one person," said Mars. Her brows were knit tightly together as she concentrated. Clasping her hands together, she raised her index fingers...

Twinkle watched in astonishment as great fiery wings extended from the glowing red streaks in the Senshi's hair. Mars never said much about her condition during the meetings that led up to the formation of Operation Batman, but Twinkle always had a hunch that the glowing eyes and smoking hair wasn't normal for her. When the flame lit itself at the tips of Mars's fingers, though... Twinkle couldn't help but think of Towa and feel a pang of loss. What she would give to have her beloved back to normal and fighting at her side again.

"Okay," said Mars in a hushed voice. "Ready your shot. I think I can control mine."

"Geez, I hope so..."

The footsteps rang louder off the bulkheads. Mars and Twinkle both tensed, prepared for anything.

"Chuuwaaah~!" Anything except the small, round-eared figure that came skidding around the corner, took one look at them, squeaked in terror, and dropped to her knees, quivering in a tiny, miserable ball. "Please, don't hurt me, don't hurt me!"

Mars's jaw fell open. Of all the old and not-so-friendly faces she expected to see brought back to life, this one was one of the last. "I-Iron Mouse...?!"

With practiced skill, Twinkle suppressed a very unladylike snort of laughter.

The shivering ball of fluff cracked an eye open. "S-S-S-S-Sailor M-M-M-Mars...?" The recognition made her flinch and cower harder than ever.

"Obviously one of your deadliest enemies." Twinkle kept her Rod trained on her, not willing to leave anything to chance.

Mars's flame reignited itself at the tip of her finger. It was a pathetic display, yes, but she had two sets of memories of the tiny menace trying to kill her and the other Senshi on many occasions. "Normally I'd say she's not worth fighting, but we should probably be sure she doesn't go squealing to her boss."

"I'm game. Who gets to shoot first?"

"Wait!" Iron Mouse threw up her hands. Her voice broke into a new set of octaves. "You don't have to! I surrender! I'll do anything you want, honest! Please, please don't set me on fire, Mars!"

"Surrender? You?" Mars scoffed. "Pardon me if I'm suspicious. How do we know you aren't trying to stab us in the back?"

The mouse girl trembled in place, her grey eyes watering. "Do you know what it's like living here?! Master Joker's worse than Lady Galaxia ever was, the guy's so nuts that there isn't even a word for it! I don't even know why I was revived! All anyone ever wants me for is to yell at me, or beat me up, or worse... that Viluy woman looks at me like I'm some sort of lab rat she wants to dissect-"

"Viluy's here too?" said Mars, suppressing a shudder. All of the Witches 5 were bad news, but judging by what Ami told her, Viluy was one of the worst. "Never mind. I still don't trust you, and we don't have time to sit around."

"Wait!" said Iron Mouse again, flailing her arms as if attempting to fly. "I'm serious, I surrender, honest! You can take me prisoner if you want, anything is better than this place, I hate it here! I'll even show you where the Merry-Go-Round is!"

"'Merry-Go-Round?'" Something about that phrase struck Twinkle as sinister. "What the heck is that?"

If Iron Mouse was terrified before, now she shook as if in fear for her life. "Th-that's where all the prisoners that he didn't brainwash are, the Merry-Go-Round. That's what he calls it, he's been building and growing it here since before I was revived..."

Fine hairs prickled on the back of Mars's neck. "Wait, go back. Building and growing? That doesn't make sense, just what is it?"

Iron Mouse's watery eyes fell on something neither of them could see. She spoke as if she expected to be struck down for every syllable she uttered. "It's a weapon, Master Joker's weapon. P-part technological, part organic. I've only seen it a few times, but I've heard Viluy talking about it... i-it's using all the prisoners as some kind of fuel..."

"Oh God," said Twinkle, aghast. Her stomach did flips at the thought of Haruka and Minami, her precious friends, reduced to nothing but batteries for some madman.

Mars felt much the same, but she had to press on. The more they knew about this Merry-Go-Round, the easier it would be to free the prisoners and destroy it. "Fuel for what? What is this thing supposed to do?"

The mouse girl hugged herself tight. "It's supposed to make them hurt. Make them suffer. A-and it links all the prisoners together, s-so that they all feel their own pain, and e-everyone else's... I heard V-Viluy say something about 'harnessing intent', that the whole point of the thing is to use the prisoners' pain to power it..." She met Mars's and Twinkle's gazes directly for the first time, and the look of horror in her eyes banished any doubts as to whether she was lying to them. "Magical girls can make their feelings and their thoughts into power, right? It's s-s-supposed to make them all think, 'Make it stop.' Over and over and over, until that intent, that need to make the pain end... makes everything end."

Twinkle's blood ran cold. "Wh... what do you mean, make everything end?"

Iron Mouse swallowed. "That's just it. Everything. You, me, himself, planets, galaxies, universes... everything." She threaded her tail between her legs and held it tight in both hands, like a child clinging to her favorite blanket. "Time, space, reality, even possibility... all gone. I told you. Master Joker's worse, worse than you can imagine. He doesn't want to take over one universe, or even all of them. He wants to..." She swallowed again. Her words came out in a dry croak. "He wants to destroy everything. Everything that ever was, is, will be, or could be. If he gets his way... there won't just be nothing left, nothing will have ever existed at all. The Merry-Go-Round... it negates existence..."

END OF CHAPTER 27