Court Evil Part Two: The Soldiers. Chapter Two: The Assault. The “Lord” Zodiac stepped into his private office, directly below Queen Beryl’s own office in the Dark Castle, the heart of the Shadow City, capital of the Negaverse. As the heart of the Shadow City, the Dark Castle was, in effect, the heart of the whole Negaverse, and all recognized this. “The fools,” Zodiac mused to himself, his voice still level and cold. “They believe themselves supreme.” The masked man’s gaze ignored the decorations of his office. The office was roughly a hundred feet wide, half as long, and with a ceiling twice that high. The walls were black and covered with tapestries depicting the many wars that Beryl had to fight to secure her position as Queen all those years ago. The floor was half white marble, half black obsidian. On the white marbled side, a black teardrop was set in the center. On the black obsidian, a white teardrop matched and joined the black teardrop in a sinuous line, forming a half white, half black circle in the center of the room. An old symbol, to be true, but it stood for something even older: light and dark, good and evil. It stood for the balancing nature of two ideals, good and evil, and how they equalized each other. Few in the Negaverse understood that, if Good was eradicated and the Negaverse being the only ideal left, the universe would collapse. A desk, half white, half black, stood in the center of the white and black circle. His desk. His soft boots made no noise as he shuffled over to the high-backed red seat behind the desk. Easing himself into the seat, he allowed himself to peer into the gilt-framed mirror on the desk, the only decoration in the room besides the desk itself and the tapestries. His reflection showed a man in a cold mask, with a cold heart, with cold intentions. Zodiac turned his eyes away from the image. “I do what I must, and nothing can change that.” “Do you really believe that?” a voice asked in his head. “Do you really believe you, of all people, have no fate, no choice?” “Yes,” Zodiac silently replied in his head. “I, the Master of Fate, am one with no fate.” “Then you are a bigger fool than the Negaverse fools,” was the voice’s reply. “There are more fools than you and I,” Zodiac said out loud, and the voice died down. “I suppose there is no helping it, now.” This he said out loud. “The Sailor Soldiers will either save us or destroy us, and I plan the former to happen.” His voice echoed in his office, full of determination, the usual calm shattered in zealousness. Beryl had played the Game for years. Ah, yes, the Game. The subtle maneuverings of politics and treachery. She excelled in it. Playing the Game was what allowed her to secure her position as Queen. Oh, yes, the Game had indeed been a most useful tool. Now, though, Beryl found that the Game had become more complicated as she used her dark magic to spy on her “advisor,” Zodiac. “So, he plans something that deviates from the mainstream of my own agenda?” Beryl’s eyes narrowed. “We shall see, Zodiac, we shall see.” The two reunited Sailor Soldiers stopped to rest against the wall of the ruined Mars Spaceport. Only a few ships remained somewhat intact, the others having been blasted to bits, small pieces still on the ground, still on fire. “I guess we should steal one of these,” Mars said to his friend. Venus was already moving to one of the still-functional spacecraft. Venus stopped suddenly, just as a laser pulse ripped past him, a hairsbreadth from slicing into him. The laser zipped past harmlessly to burn a hole in a broken spacecraft door. Venus and Mars turned to face their new opponent, hands glowing with energy. Their assailant holstered his pistol and tipped his hat to them in greeting. “Now that I have your attention,” the assailant said, his black coat wrapped around him, “I assume you wish to know why I attempted to kill you. To be frank, it was to do just the first thing: To get your attention.” Mars and Venus put their arms down, hands still glowing in readiness. The man looked hurt. “Oh, please, as if you’re pathetic little energy attacks will harm a Class Seven android.” To prove his point, the man opened his coat and revealed that he was not a man at all. His body was a featureless thing of red metal with a small missile launcher located in the abdomen. “You should know, as well as I, that Class Sevens, like myself, are resistant to energy attacks, including electro-magnetic pulses. Now, if you both will act civil, I have some important things to tell you.” Venus eyed the man warily. “What do you have to tell us?” “Just this,” the android said, “Neo-Sailor Mercury had gone insane after the war with the Negaverse heated up. His mental stability just cracked and he went on like a raving madman, which he was. He was killed by Malachite and Jadeite, both are generals of Queen Beryl. I have been sent here to inform you that you are to rendezvous with Gae-dhal, your precious Neo-Sailor Moon, and Neo-Sailor Jupiter in sector eight of the Negaverse armory quadrant.” “You want US to go to the NEGAVERSE?” Mars cried out in surprise. This was ridiculous! The android continued as calmly as before. “Yes. Moon and Jupiter will be waiting for you. You have your orders, Sailor Mars. I trust you will honor them. You really do not have a choice. These orders could very well be your last. You may live through this ordeal and be free at last, or die, which is the most probable conclusion.” The android thought for a moment, then said, as if it were an afterthought, “Oh, by the way, for security reasons and secrecy, I will self-detonate in three seconds.” Mars and Venus ducked behind a wrecked spaceship just as the android went the way of the dinosaurs. The small spacecraft floated over a natural black hole, the maneuver vernier engines working as hard as they could to keep the ship from being sucked into the hole. Mars eyed the black hole with distaste. “I hope you realize using a black hole like this is the next thing to suicide.” He cupped his chin in his hand. “I’ll rephrase that. Using a black hole like this IS suicide!” “Don’t worry,” Venus said, punching in some coordinates into the ship’s helm. “I got the coordinates all locked in, the maneuver verniers are in place, ready to eject us backwards in the event of a mishap, and the balance modifiers are ready to keep the ship in a straight line while the ship hits warp five.” “I still say its suicide to even THINK of using a black hole as a portal!” Mars grumbled. Venus looked at his whining companion. “Look, if we used a natural portal, or a man-made one, the Negaverse detectors will pick us up easily. Using a black hole is the safest way to get in undetected. After all, who would think of trying to detect something inside a black hole?” “Then again,” Mars said sarcastically, “who would think of trying to fly HROUGH a black hole? The reason there are no detectors on a black hole is because no SANE LIVING BEING would DARE try going THROUGH ONE!” Neo-Sailor Venus punched the “engage” button on the main console. The ship started moving into the black hole, the balance modifiers keeping the ship in a line. “Our lives stopped being sane the day the Queen defeated the Negaverse with the Imperium Silver Crystal.” Mars shut up then and there. The ship flew into the center of the black hole, picking up speed as it slowly climbed to warp five, a speed limit that was five times the speed of light. They flew right into the center of the black hole, their incredible speed tearing through space and time, stretching relativity to its limit. The black hole was made from dead stars, and the few remnants of the star that made this dead hole proved sufficient to propel the small spacecraft into the dimensions. The ship tore through the fabric of space and shot into the blackness and corruption that was the Negaverse. Mars eyed the black spiraling castle that was the Dark Castle of the Negaverse, the heart of the evil of this corrupted dimension. Mars wanted to vomit at the sight of it. “Think of something cheerful,” Venus advised, seeing his friend’s disgust. “Try singing something.” Mars started mumbling, “Sky of blue and sea of green, in our Yellow Submarine. We all live in a Yellow Submarine, Yellow Submarine, Yellow Submarine. We all live in a Yellow Submarine, Yellow Submarine, Yellow Submarine….” Venus shook his head, amused. Mars had definitely been using his precognitive abilities far too often if he started looking into the future for what songs would be good to listen to. Who did Mars say wrote that song? The Beatles? Odd name, but the future was always odd. “Battle stations,” Venus said sternly, taking the controls for the starboard offensive cannons. Mars hurried over to the controls of the ship’s stern offensive cannons and the shield controls. Venus eyed the target screen. Five balconies on the Dark Castle showed a missile turret. No problem. Five turrets were easy. “Fire at will!” Venus yelled, hitting the Fire button. The ship rocked as the starboard cannons fired off. Venus grinned in satisfaction as the starboard cannons decimated four of the turrets. One left to go. “Damn! Missile!” Venus turned at the sound of Mars’s warning. The last missile turret fired off a small anti-air missile. Neo-Sailor Mars was already spinning the shield’s controls around, trying to move the shield into place on the ship’s hull. The ship rocked violently as the missile exploded against the shield. “That was close,” Mars said, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Shields are down to 30% from that missile. I doubt we have any shields left to block anything of even a quarter of that missile’s magnitude.” “I’ll take care of that turret, Mars. Just get us into range.” Venus swerved the controls so that the offensive guns tilted to the turret. The crosshairs turned bright red on the control’s monitor as they locked on the turret. “Adios, amigo.” The turret was gone in an instant. Venus laughed as he saw the turret explode from his shot. The ship rocked gently as it swerved to land on the battered balcony, among the remains of the turret. The ship’s main door hissed open and Mars rolled on his back out the door onto the ground, launching a blast of flames. “Mars Death Raze!” he yelled, blasting open the iron doors that sealed off the balcony. Venus stepped out, hands glowing. Both Mars and Venus ran into the now-open door. A squad of ten armored monsters showed up in the hallway, guns blazing. Laser burns appeared on the walls where the monsters’ shots missed. Venus launched his own attack. “Purity Purge Pound!” A golden cube of energy soared from his fist and slammed into the foremost monster, blasting a square-shaped hole in its chest, tearing through armor, flesh, and bone. Mars followed up with his attack. “Mars Death Raze!” A wave of billowing fire flowed over the remaining monsters and turned them to ash. Venus took the lead, Mars running behind him. “So where exactly are we supposed to meet the other Male Soldiers?” asked Mars. “The Hell should I know?” was Venus’s caustic reply. “The Castle seems a good enough place. Besides, we might get a shot at Beryl. I’d like to take her head personally.” Zodiac stepped into the hallway he knew the other two Sailor Soldiers would use. “We were angels, once.” His voice was deep and melancholy. The calmness was gone forever. Sadness and regret filled him, now. “We were angels, once...”