Fatal Fury Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Sailor Rifts ❯ Chapter 11: Hell In A Needle ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sailor Moon/Rifts Crossover (Revised Edition) By Simon Woodington

Chapter 11: Hell In A Needle

When her eyesight quit on her she was not sure. All she felt was the
searing scars of pain. Since they returned, she only vaguely recalled
the questions they asked. Names, something about names... A name? She
groaned, unable to move as she lay face first on the white floor. They
had wanted to know about someone. Who... Her? What? They finally
called her a name. Mostly curses, angered, taunting words. Where did
she come from? Who was she with? Who was her boyfriend?

Juan was not her boyfriend. Not anymore!

:Oh Juan...: Tears failed for lack of strength. :What happened?:

Who taught you magic? Who taught you. Was it Lazlo? Are you a criminal
of the State? Yes, you are. Never forget that. Never.

Finally she lost consciousness. Even then, the words rang in her mind,
in her dreams. She screamed at them, and managed to avoid the striking
hands. Darkness consumed them. The darkness gave way to light.

Pain flared in her stomach.

"Wake up, Bitch."

She scrambled away from the source of the pain, gasping. Something
caught her hand. Her eyes opened, perceiving distorted images of a man
dressed in white. She also saw a pair of black towers behind him. No,
those where men too. She felt a pulling at her arm, dragging her to
her feet. She stumbled, still half blind, one eye swollen shut.
Clothes were a thing of the past; they had relieved her of them before
the beating.

"Come on!" he cursed. "We want you to see someone."

Rei was afraid to ask, even if her throat had not been too dry to let
her. She just followed him, stumbling, and falling twice. Some doctor
had come in and set her leg, so she could walk. Every step brought a
new variety of pain to her already beaten form. She wished she could
remember the doctor's name. He had been so nice.

:It was... was... Dr. ... Silt... No, Silver. Dr. Silver: He had not
said anything, but he'd smiled. The smile felt familiar. :How...? I've
never seen him before! He was so gentle...:

"Hey Bitch," the man snapped, pulling her forward with a jerk. "Keep
up, will ya!"

Rei flinched. He grinned.

"They got ya pinned real good, huh," he laughed callously. He stopped.

"Well, here we are, Bitch!" He jabbed a series of buttons. "Go on."

He pushed her through, after which point the door closed automatically
behind her. Rei fell forward and landed on her face. For a while she
just lay there, not really caring who it was they were talking about.
Finally, she staggered to her feet. Her eyes blurred. Adjacent to her
was a girl, shorter than she. She wore the same as Rei, a collar, and
what appeared to be a band of metal strapped to one hand. The other
arm looked somewhat strange, a little discoloured, but Rei took scant
notice of it. She was slight of build, had harsh blue eyes, and
shoulder length blue hair.

"By Lazlo's good name!" Rei muttered, her voice cracking. "Ami!" she
cried, finding strength to run towards her. Rei hugged her, and the
girl just looked... confused.

"Well aren't you friendly!" she said. "Have we met?"

Rei froze, emotionally as well as physically.

"You don't remember me Ami-chan? I'm your friend, Rei!"

"Ami-chan? I ain't heard that name before..." she blinked. "You do
seem awfully kind, but... no, I don't think I know ya." She gazed down
at this strange black haired girl. "Oh my!" she said, voice sounding
shocked. "What've they done to ya? Poor girl."

Rei dissolved into tears.

"My name's Sarah," she cooed, holding Rei gently. "Sssh darlin', I
know. I know what they did. It's gonna be okay."

Several minutes passed while Rei cried. Hope, after the last night's
beating, had fled into some distant shadow with her only seeming
friend; "Sliver." Even with his actions of the night before, and the
meticulous binding of her shattered leg, she trusted him about as much
as she did a rogue Fury Beetle. Sorrow welled within her, for living
to see the next day had become suddenly a very uncertain thing.
Slowly, her tears ebbed, and she calmed.

"You going be okay now?" Sarah asked. Rei looked as if she had been
asked if she would survive the world ending. She shook her head, and
said nothing.

"I'm sorry I don't remember ya. Ya seem so nice. Were we good
friends?" She seemed genuinely curious.

"I don't know. I might be wrong," Rei said as she stepped away from
her. "She and I were, yes."

:This can't be right. Carl said it was her... but they almost look
nothing alike!; she lamented in thought alone.

When she went to put her hand on her shoulder, she noticed a split in
the skin where Sarah's arm visibly joined her body at the shoulder.
Under it was...

"Oh mercy," she whispered.

... the cold sheen of metal.

Sarah seemed to barely notice Rei's reaction.

"Oh yeah, my arm. Nothing special, just prosthetic."

Rei was frozen, not moving, not even breathing. Sarah took her by the
shoulders.

"Hey. You okay?" She shook her slightly. "Darlin'?" Sarah shook her
again. She swore, then drew her hand across her face in a quick
motion. Rei gasped, eyes jammed shut for a moment.

"Better?" Sarah asked, studying the black haired girl's swollen eyes
carefully.

Rei sank to her knees and sat down, head bowed. There was a hiss as
the door opened. A man in a white lab coat, and a black armored grunt
entered. The man gestured for the grunt to wait. He approached the
two. Sarah snarled protectively, noting the needle in his hand.

"No, no, it's me, Dr. Silver. I'm just here to give you your shots,"
he said reassuringly. Rei's head snapped up to him. She mouthed the
words; 'You helped me,' and smiled slightly.

"That's right," he crooned, "this'll just take a second."

Rei put up as much fight as her strength would allow, which was not
much. He kneeled close, as if he was holding her down.

"I can't stay, they suspect me," he whispered, "I promise you, I'll be
back as soon as we can shift the blame."

Sarah also feigned putting up a fuss, but eventually took the needle.
Then, with a snarl, she pushed him roughly towards the grunt. He fell
against the armored guard, who cursed.

"You bastard human," Sarah snarled at the doctor as she got her feet.
Something told Rei she enjoyed playing the feral aggressor.

Play along, her gaze told him for not much more than an instant. She
snarled and leapt at the grunt, who knocked her aside. Dr. Silver
cried out in mock terror, and pounded at the door. Rei lay there
crying, listless, and lost. Sarah continued to snarl at Dr Silver, who
appeared to be scared out of his mind as he scrambled against the
door, hoping to claw his way out.

The grunt punched in the door combination as he eyed the Amazon
warily. The doctor flew through the door like it was the pearly gates,
leading to his salvation. The grunt seemed in no hurry to leave. Sarah
decided he needed some convincing. She dove at him, aiming to wrench
the weapon from his black gauntleted grip. At the last instant, the
grunt stepped aside. She sailed into the wall, face first, her nose
snapping like a thin twig. As she impacted, she felt a jolt of pain,
and a numb sensation began to spread through her back. She felt limp
to the ground, paralyzed.

"That'll teach ya," the grunt chuckled.

:If I weren't so weak, he'd not've hit me!:

Sarah's mind fogged as she watched the grunt approach Rei, still
consumed by her tears. The grunt raised the mace, and Sarah found she
could not get her voice to work. She could only watch as he stunned
her, and carried her off over his shoulder.

She feared for that kind girl.

---

"Careful, careful!" he cried. "I don't want any unnecessary bruising!"

"Yeah, yeah," the grunt replied, letting her fall with no particular
care to the examination table. "Do ya really think I give a flying
frick? You do yer job, I'll do mine. Okay?"

The doctor's scrawny features assumed an unpleasant expression, making
him look like a dissatisfied vulture.

"Moron!" he snapped. "I ask for elite guards, and what do I get?
Simpletons like you!" he almost spat at the grunt.

"Listen you," replied the black suited grunt grumpily. "I didn't ask
for this lousy job, so why don'cha just mind yer own crap!"

"Oh go on, haven't you got a Dog Boy to associate with?"

The grunt departed, muttering something about apes and the doctor's
mating habits.

"Philistine!" the doctor croaked as the door slid smoothly shut. He
shook his head and sighed, muttering curses under his breath. As he
neared the young woman the grunt had unceremoniously dumped on his lab
table, a smile began to warm his face.

"Why... Aren't you a pretty one," he observed appreciatively. "Hardly
any fat at all. All muscle. It's too bad they won't let me do Juicer
conversions on your kind. You're so strong already," he said, as if
she were awake, as if she were a child requiring nurturing. He began
the task of binding her to the table. He hummed as he did so, some
nameless tune that had no direction, nor key.

"The doctor is going to have to remove this collar," he singsonged
tunelessly, "it will interfere with the tests."

As he moved up to her neck, his eyes fell to her long black hair.

"Such pretty hair," he muttered, running his sinewy fingers through
the thick strands. "Dr. Ravelli is going to have to shorten it. A
pity."

After he was finished binding her, he idly bandaged her bloodied nose,
cleaning the scarlet substance from her face, and carefully securing a
strip of gauze which contained a metal band. He then took a seat on
one of his stool chairs, and spent some time just admiring her. The
scanners did their work, querying the anatomy of the young woman,
gathering the scores and details of her body. An hour must have passed
before he noticed her eyes fluttering open.

"Oho! She awakens!" he piped cheerily, hopping down from the stool so
he could stand next to her.

Her gaze, confused, fell on him, making her face look fear filled. He
could see the muscles of her body tensing as she tried to move, as she
realized she was restrained.

"No no, you dear beauty, don't panic. It wouldn't be good for you to
panic."

She relaxed somewhat. He smiled, the sags of flesh on his face
tightening into lines.

"Good good, that's it. Relax." He reached for something out of her
line of vision. She felt the tips of fingers on the inside of her arm,
and tensed again. There was a sharp spike of pain as what she
recognized to be a needle slipped into her arm.

"No!" she cried. He flinched, digging the intravenous too deep into
her arm. Blood began to trickle from the wound.

"Now that's no good," he said softly, "can't have you startling me
like that!"

He proceeded over to a wall of vials, beakers, and other scientific
equipment.

"No talking," he whispered, returning with a gag, wrapping it around
her head while she struggled.

"See?" he mock questioned as he picked through a number of heated IV
bags. "Isn't that better? I much prefer the silence, myself. Life is
really much too loud."

The doctor finally settled on not the green bag, not the blue one with
red spots, nor the neon one, but the gruesomely coloured rainbow one.

"Ah-ha," he smiled, "Hell In A Needle. Just what the doctor ordered!"
he chuckled. "Will you listen to me? I just made a funny!" He laughed
for several moments, not seeming to notice the wideness of Rei's eyes,
how they watched the bag he held in utter horror.

With great precision, he set the bag on a hook on the wall nearby,
then hooked the tube to the IV in her arm.

"Oh," he gasped, noticing the blood on her arm, "my little goof up is
making a mess everywhere, isn't it? I guess I'll just have to do
something about that." He disappeared from her sight for a moment,
then returned.

"Here," and he slapped a bandage on the 'oopsie.' Rei gasped loudly
into her gag. A solitary tear traveled down her cheek.

"Is that better now?" he smiled at her as the rainbow sludge mixture
drained slowly into her bloodstream. Eventually, his eyes began to
wander. Rei watched those eyes, wondering what it would be like to
crush them in their sockets. She also came to wonder how far you had
to open the mouth to slip a knife in and carve out the tongue.
Considering how would be the most painful way for him to die, her mind
raced to the fire.

The fire; it had always guided, helped her, in her time of need, and
when the senshi had needed to know of the evil that the Negaforce
unleashed. Even before, as a Priestess, it had never failed her in her
times of need. Her mind saw his flesh boiling under the extreme heat
it could produce. She saw him being consumed by the fire, and heard
him screaming, pleading for mercy. Anything for mercy, please!

Her mind waded and stood amongst death, knowing that these thoughts
might be her last. She wondered what could possess someone to

(kill)

Why would you

(crush someone's skull, sending pieces of bone deep into)

Her mind faded, blurred, scurried at the reality that hers was
changing.

A silent vow came to her, a reaching, a probing, a lost hope:

:If I survive, I will kill him. I will use the fire to fry him alive!:

Then her reality ended.