Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ An American Boy in Tokyo ❯ The Beginning of the End ( Chapter 19 )

That night, Mina woke up to find herself alone in the bed. Startled at first, she heard some voices upstairs after a few minutes and checked the bedside clock, it was two in the morning. She quietly got out of bed and put her slippers on before easing her way up the staircase silently, then she stopped to listen and see who was there.

"So phase one has been carried out?" I asked.

"As per your request, Alex, the duplicates are in place and we've set up a temporary barrier around the planet to keep them from opening their present too soon. The Commander is infatuated with your plan, he's authorized me to give you any support needed what so ever, as long as you can guarantee that this will end the Dark Agency's existence."

"As long as they take the bait, everything will be down hill from there."

"Are you sure you can go through with this?" Jackson's voice asked. "You're taking the chance of losing something much more valuable than your life."

"I know, Jackson, you don't have to remind me, but that's why they call me Maniac. And as long as I keep on getting closer to her, they'll never know the difference." Mina gasped and the room went silent.

"Well, I'd better be going, we'll have your equipment in place by dawn, how much more time do you need?"

"Give me another two weeks, and then provoke an assault on the shield, make them think that they broke through it." I said. "This has to look real, Jackson, it's incredibly hard to decieve those who are born into deception."

"We'll do our best, Alex. See you next time." He disappeared.

"Mina, is that you?" I asked. She was frozen in position right where she had made the noise. She stared at me with a look that I couldn't define.

"Is that all I am to you, Alex? Bait?" She asked, before slamming the door and locking it.

"Mina, you misunderstood..."

"It's over, Alex, I'm leaving in the morning." Her voice replied. I felt a shocking blow pierce through my body, and I went upstairs to my parents room, slowly, I wasn't depressed surprisingly, what I felt was much worse, I was hollow. I sat on the edge of the bed until I heard the phone ring at about seven o'clock in the morning, and jumped for it. It was Darien.

"Alex, is that you?" He asked.

"Y-Yeah Darien, it's me." I replied, my stutter had come back.

"Oh man, what happened?" I sighed.

"Jackson and I were finalizing the plans that we had made, and Mina heard something that she wasn't supposed to, and took it the wrong way."

"Were you really going to use her as bait?"

"No, Darien, you should at least know me better than that!" I replied. "I would never let any harm come to her, not now, not ever." I said.

"What are your plans, Alex, we have to talk this out, fast, something big is going on." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at the sky." I jumped off the bed and ran outside looking up, there were explosions going off left and right.

"Oh no! It's too soon! Jackson what happened?!?!?" I said. "Darien, get everyone over here now!" I said hanging up the phone. I went and tried to open my door, it still wouldn't budge. "Mina, please, we have to talk this out!" There wasn't any answer. "I don't have time for this!" I shouted kicking the door open. I then ran down the stairs, too late, I saw the window shattered, the room was a mess, even the computer had been destroyed. All that remained was the armor stand. I dropped to my knees in front of the bed and started sobbing. I was still there when the others arrived, Darien wasn't with them. Lita went first charging at me and pinning me by my throat against the wall.

"Where's Mina? Why were you playin' her?" She shouted. My windpipe was completely cut off. I frantically reached for my belt buckle, but I had taken it off earlier, before Mina had been abducted.

"I...never...played...anyone..." I rasped out.

"Let him go." Imara said. "The Commander told me what's going on, sir." She and Sailor Neptune shot to attention and saluted me.

"What...the heck are...you two doing?"

"Before we were scouts, we were IROG." Michelle replied. "The Commander has requested that we follow your orders until this plan is finalized."

"Good, because we're all in some very deep shit if that force field falls before Jackson's had time to get everything in place." I said. "We have got to hurry, we don't have much time before the invasion begins."

"Wait, Alex, what about Mina?" Raye said. "You can't just let her go."

"I don't have time to discuss this right now, Raye, someone was here on Earth before that shield was raised. We have to find them before they deactivate it."

"Wouldn't Mina have been able to defend herself?" Amy asked. "Seriously, why didn't she transform?"

"It probably just wasn't enough." I said. "I'm leaving now, I have a world full of people to save, you're either coming with me or you're not."

"Wait." Amy said. "We should transform first."

"We don't have time for that, come on." I grabbed my laser pistol off the wall and shoved in the waste band of my pants. We all jumped into the SUV and took off for the mall, with Imara and Michiru right behind us.

"You switched out our power pens didn't you, Alex." Amy asked.

"What?" I asked. "Why would I do that?"

"It all makes sense now." Amy said. "But you didn't plan on someone being inside the forcefield when it was raised, so, when Mina went to transform..."

"Shut up." I said. "How much longer until dawn?"

"Twenty minutes, why?"

"Grrrr, hurry it up, Jackson." I said.

"Well, while we're waiting, you'd better start talking."

"Fine you want to know the truth?" I asked. "Yes, I had Jackson take your power pens, and replace them with functionless deplicates, why? To keep all of you from getting yourselves killed." I said. "I know who's here, it's exactly who was supposed to be here, but he acted too soon, I didn't think he'd risk an attack without reinforcements." I said. "Bad strategy on my part."

"Ooh, just you wait till we get out of this car." Lita said.

"Wait for what, Lita, you to beat the hell out of me? Fine, do it, stomp me into a bloody pulp, but that won't help us save Mina." I said.

"So we are going to save her?" Raye asked.

"We're going to try." I replied. "One thing you all have to understand, is that the world comes first, Crystal Tokyo comes first, if we can save Mina in the process, that's fine, but if we can't, then you have got to let it go." I said, my voice started cracking. "Excuse me, I have to pull over for a second." I stopped the car on the side of the road and climbed out, stumbling into the ditch beside us. I crawled out a few feet to the other side before breaking down and completely losing it.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Raye asked. "Are you okay?"

"Go away! Just leave me alone for a few minutes." I started beating the ground with my fist. "I should have known better, I should have known..." I started sobbing uncontrollably. Imara and Michiru finally got out and started towards me. I cried so hard that I got sick, then I started going into dry heaves.

"He didn't do this intentionally." Imara said to the others. "He loves Mina more than life itself, The Commander knows."

"How does this Commander know so much?" Raye asked.

"He's a long lost relative of Alex's." Michiru replied. "We were all so sure that his plan would work too."

"It still can." I replied staggering over towards them. My face was red and puffy, and my eyes were bloodshot. "I failed once, I have to pick up the pieces and make this work, only now, there's no guarantee that everyone will make it out okay." I said. "You two, go guard Serena, and tell Darien to get his butt to the mall, pronto." I rasped. "Raye, you drive, I don't exactly feel up to it."

"Okay, Alex, but if you mess up like this again." I tightened my jaw.

"Don't you dare lecture me Raye Hino." I said. "this is my mistake, and I've paid for it more dearly than any of you." I shouted. "Just drive the blasted car, and leave the rest to me, I'm a big boy, I can clean up my own mess." The rest of the drive was done in silence. I sat shot gun, silently watching out the window. The shield was holding steadily.

"We've got one shot at recuing her. If that shield falls before we reach her though, all bets are off." I said.

"Why?"

"Because we'll be too busy dodging enemy fire to handle a rescue mission." I said. "They out number us a million to one. We only have one shot at beating them now. Is it dawn yet?"

"Yes." amy replied.

"Go to the northern mall parking lot, and let's pray that Jackson was able to do his part." I said. "If one more link is taken out, this chain of events that I've set into motion will fall apart, and we'll all die." I said, there was a dead silence that filled the vehicle after I said it, everyone knew that the end was coming good or bad, the fate of planet Earth would be decided and soon.