Ranma Onehalf: First Steps.

Book Six.

Chapter Three.

(Authors note: The character Major Johnathan Winters is the property of IsraelBauman. I forgot to mention that in my last posting- sorry!)

Evans idly scratched the back of his head as he went down the steps, heading to the street. It was 0632 local time in Nerima, and he was up and about. Specifically, he was running to the store to pick up some essentials- beer, mainly. He had been low before the incident in Qatar, and he hadn't had time to restock.

Normally, he would have been arriving at work by now, but the Captain had called him at a quarter till and let him know that he and everyone else who had been at Cheyenne Mountain had just been given forty -eight hours leave.

This irked him slightly, as since Mendez had called him, his body had decided to revert back to its routine, which meant he was normally getting up at that time anyways, he hadn't been able to get back to sleep.

"I was looking forward to sleeping in...." he muttered to himself as he set off down the street.

"Sargent Major."

Evans was jolted out of his musings by a very familiar voice calling his name, and when he looked up, he saw Major Winters across the street in a Toyota sedan with the window down.

"Major." he called back, giving the officer a wave as he crossed the street over to where he was parked. "What's up, sir?" he asked as he approached.

"Not much." the Major answered. "You got a few minutes?"

Evans nodded. "Yes sir. I was just running down to the store for some beer."

Winters grunted and pointed to the passenger seat of the car. "Get in. I need to talk to you."

Frowning, and wondering what this could be about, Evans crossed around to the other side of the car and got. "Whats going on?" he asked as Winters started the car.

"I need your opinion on something." was Winters response as he put the car in gear. "Theres a file folder in the glove box. Read what's in it and give me your professional opinion."

"Yes sir." Evans said and opened the glove box.

Pulling out the unmarked file folder, he flipped it open and the first thing that caught his eye was the 8x10 glossy photo of a dark haired Sailor Scout lying in a pool of her own blood, the back of her head blown out.

"Holy shit!" Evans exclaimed. "What the hell happened?"

"You remember in your initial analysis of the Scouts, when they first appeared, how you said that they wouldn't stand a chance against anyone who wasn't what a magical girl normally faced?" Winters asked.

Evans nodded. "Yeah." he said. "Looks like my prediction came true."

"Exactly." Winters said as Evans flipped to the next photo in the sheaf, which was of a boyish looking blond Scout, also with the back of head missing.

"Fuck." Evans said as he looked the photos over. "They're not part of the regular group. They must be part of that new trio that showed up." he added after looking over their uniforms.

"Yep." Winters confirmed. "Keep going. It gets better."

Evans did, and the next few photos showed a pool of blood, some bloody hand prints and a trail of droplets that terminated suddenly. The next series of photos were from a construction site, where there was yet another pool of blood and some empty first aid kits.

There was also a pair of severed forelegs, wearing red pumps.

"Sailor Mars." Evans said, tapping the photo. "She alive?"

Winters nodded as they turned a corner. "She's currently at Tokyo General in the ICU in critical but stable condition with half of the Tokyo Police Cataclysm Division guarding her." he said. "No one's been able to talk to her either, she's too doped up on painkillers."

Evans grunted as he flipped to the next photo, which was of a cartridge casing.

"What kind of weapon was used?" he asked.

"Forty Five ACP, made by Federal." Winters responded. "Hydra Shocks. Polygonal rifling, the extractor marks are consistent with the H&K USP series."

Evans saw red when Winters said that, several things falling into place.

"MotherFUCKER!" he yelled, punching the dash.

His outburst was the last thing that Winters was expecting from the usually calm and collected Sargent Major. "What is it?" he asked, glancing over at him.

Evans looked like he was ready to scalp someone, a very specific someone. "Do we know who did this?" he asked.

"Not the last time I checked, no." was Winters response. "I take you have someone in mind?"

"Yeah." Evans said, flipping the folder closed. "Naota fucking Sano."

Winters arched an eyebrow. "Isn't he that demon ninja who's engaged to the daughter of your martial arts instructor?" he asked.

"Yeah, but they're married now." Evans said.

"Oh." Winters said. "So, why do you think he was involved with the Scouts?" he asked.

Evans took a moment to collect himself and get his thoughts in order. "Well, Mars is a miko, or priestess. Naota's had trouble with them before." he began "Odds are, Mars tried to fuck with him and he cut her off at the knees."

"Why didn't he kill her, like he did with the other two?" Winters interjected.

Evans shrugged slightly. "He's not killer- not if he can help it at least." Evans said. "He was probably just trying to intimidate Mars and something went wrong. As for the two on the roof, they probably ambushed him."

"I thought he was supposed to be too good to just walk into an ambush." Winters asked.

"He is." Evans said. "However, it's thought that one of those new Scouts can manipulate time and space, so thats probably how they were able to get the drop on him."

Winters nodded as he digested this bit of information. "By the way, how did he get to the roof? According to the police reports, all the doors to the roof were padlocked shut and the keys were still in the construction managers office."

"He shadow jumped." Evans answered. "Check the place out at night. You'll probably find that theres a pool of really deep shadow near where the casings were found."

"So he can jump through shadows?" asked Winters.

"Yeah." replied Evans. "Why do you ask? You want to talk to him?"

"Perhaps eventually." Winters answered. "First, I'm going to talk to the Scouts."

Evans snorted. "As long as you don't eat them, you'll be fine." he said. "You can let me off here. This is the store." he added, pointing out the window.

"Very funny, Sargent." Winters said as pulled over. "If I have any more questions, I'll call you."

"Right." Evans said as he opened the door. "Thanks for the lift."

"Don't mention it." Winters said as Evans got out.

Meanwhile, halfway across the district, Akane was up and about as well. Shrugging on her nightgown, she left a snoring Ranma-chan in bed and went downstairs, where as usual, she found Matoko starting to prepare breakfast.

"You know, sometimes it's damn near eerie on how Matoko mirrors Kasumi." Akane thought, not for the first time. "Morning Matoko." she said as she came in.

"Good morning Akane." Matoko answered with a smile. "You sleep well?"

Akane hesitated for a second before she answered. "Something like that..." she said, the events of last night playing through her head and making her blush slightly. "Anyways, is there hot water ready?"

"Mm-hmm." Matoko answered, again with a smile. "Oh, by the way..." she added "There are two men standing outside trying to watch the house." she added.

"Really?" Akane asked, her mind going back to what Kenji's older brother had said the day before when he and his kids had visited, about how he was getting a divorce and what he expected his wife to try and do. "I'll have to take a look then." she added as she took a teacup out of the cupboard.

After making her cup of tea, she set it aside to let it steep, and then had Matoko get down the jar of Mouse Cookies that they kept around for uninvited guests and other assorted vermin. Taking one out, she headed for the back door and slipped outside.

A summon of the Umi -Sen -Ken and a quick leap later, she was on the roof and almost no one (the exceptions being any member of the Saotome family and assorted hangers on) was the wiser. It didn't take long for Akane to find them- nobody in Nerima who was up at this hour wore a suit and tie.

The two men were lounging near a corner, one casually reading a sports magazine and the other one was just leaning up against a wall, his hands in his pockets. Akane smiled slightly under her disguise. These two gentlemen were definitely the private eyes that Takata had been warning them about.

Not much of threat, really, but there was no way that Akane was going to let them just hang around there all day keeping an eye on her family. So, she did a quick check of the wind conditions (it was dead calm), judged the weight of the cookie in her hand (14 grams(1), more or less), and infused it with a spark of chi before letting fly.

The cookie flew like a Frisbee and impacted on the wall right above the men's heads. When it hit, the chi stored in the cookie was released, turning it into powder, which billowed out in a cloud around the two men, who doubled over in a coughing fit.

Akane watched the two men for a moment to make sure that her handiwork had taken effect, then she walked to edge of the roof and jumped down as the two men started to projectile vomit.

Inside, her tea was just about done.

"I took care of those two men you told me about." Akane said as she removed the tea bag from her mug. "I don't think they'll be bothering us again."

"Oh, that's nice to know." Matoko said as she checked the miso.

Kamone hummed a happy tune as he wheeled his bicycle down the deserted early morning streets of Nerima on his way to the print shop. He was in a good mood, for the sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the forecast was for it to be cool but comfortable, the Giants had stomped Yokohama last night, the-

Kamone frowned slightly as he heard a car turn onto the road behind him. Glancing back, he saw that it was about three meters behind him and made no move to pass him after he moved over for them. After a couple of blocks of this he sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I hate amateurs." he thought with an irritated growl.

When he came to an intersection he checked both ways and made a right. As he expected, the car followed him. He went down another couple of blocks before making another turn and before the car could catch up to him, he ducked into an alley. Once he was safely hidden, he waited.

"Where the hell did he go?" asked the driver as they turned onto the street.

"No idea." the passenger said as he scanned the street. "He wasn't going that fast. There's no way he could have given us the slip that easily..."

"Actually, I'm right here." Kamone said from the back seat, making the two men jump. "Stop the car please."

If anyone had bothered to look out their window, they would have seen the nondescript gray sedan suddenly brake to a stop and then start rocking violently back and forth on it's suspension for several minutes along with muffled screams before stopping.

Then if they had still been looking, instead of sleeping, after the rocking had stopped, they would have seen Kamone Sano open the rear passenger side door and climb out, tell the driver to drive safely, close the door, retrieve his bike, and pedal off to work.

But no one did see that happen, for the section of Nerima that Kamone had lured the two private eyes to was almost wall to wall retirees, and they rarely got up before nine anyways. And on top of that, the sounds of the car rocking back and forth and the screaming were comparatively benign when it came to Nerima.

So, the friendly warning that Kamone had delivered to the P.I.'s, that most people would consider to be a violent assault and battery, went unnoticed.

Naota yawned and scratched her (technically his, he still had his Sexy Jutsu up from the previous nights activities and wasn't in the mood to dismiss it) side as she shuffled to the kitchen in search of a snack. Passing by a window he glanced out through the blinds as was his custom, checking to see if anything was amiss.

When Naota looked out, she (or he, depending on your point of view) noticed that there was a man standing in the mouth of an alley directly across from the print shop, watching it. Her ears folded back slightly in irritation and she glanced at the clock.

Six fifty -three, is what it read.

An grin full of pointed, sharp, teeth spread across Naotas face as an idea blossomed in her (or his, again, depending on your point of view) mind. Striding across the apartment, she opened the broom closet and got out the Remington M-700 sitting in its rack, along with it's matching 'can' or suppressor, from the top shelf along with a box of ammunition.

Walking back to the window, Naota checked the clock and saw that there was a couple of minutes to go. Working quickly, she unscrewed the cap on the the end of the muzzle and replaced it with the suppressor.

Then she flipped the safety off and cycled the bolt open and clicked two rounds into the magazine. Cycling the bolt closed, she got into a kneeling position and put the rifle to her shoulder, sticking the end of the suppressor out the hole in the screen.

Then Naota waited.

It was a short wait, for at precisely six oh two, the morning commuter train went thundering by, and thats when Naota fired, aiming at a can just behind the man watching the shop. He jerked around when he heard it clatter, and that's when Naota neatly put his second round into the mans right buttock.

Hours later, after Naota's early morning 7.62 x 51mm (2) 147 grain hello, he was on the phone with Ranma.

"Yeah, so, I saw him and figured out what he was doing, so I took care of it." Naota said as he listened to the background racket on the other end of the phone. "By the way, what's going on over there? It sounds like a building falling down."

"Oh, that's just Christian and Mamimi sparring." Ranma answered. "So, what did you do to him?"

The corner of Naotas mouth perked up in amusement. "Oh, I shot him in the ass when the train went by."

"What?" was Ranmas reaction. "Why would you do something like that? Wouldn't that attract attention?"

Naota couldn't help but snicker in amusement at Ranma's tone. "What's he gonna do? Tell the police?" he asked. "We ninja and the police are part of the same union. They won't do anything- besides, if he went to them, he'd have to explain why he was in that area."

"I see..." Ranma started to say but the rest was drowned out by the mayhem on the other end.

"What?" Naota asked. "Could you repeat that? I can't hear you over the racket."

"Hold on." Ranma said. "Hey you two! Keep it down! I'm on the phone!" he yelled before putting the phone back to his ear. "That better?"

"Yeah." Naota said. "As you were saying."

"As I was saying, being part of the same union as the police is probably very convienent." Ranma repeated.

"It is." Naota replied. "What are you gonna do if more show up?"

"Eh." Ranma said in a verbal shrug. "I'll just let Christian and Mamimi handle them. It's be good for them."

"That oughta be fun to watch." Naota said.

"You should come on over then." Ranma suggested. "And you can get some sparring practice in with them too."

Naota ran a quick mental check on his schedule for the day, and found nothing came up. "We'll over there as soon as Lia wakes up." he said.

"So, three, four o'clock in the afternoon then?" asked Ranma.

Naota just laughed.

Takata looked up when the doorbell chimed.

"Dokuhotei, the door!" he called.

"Could you get it for me?" Dokuhotei asked from the table, where he was locked in a life or death shogi match with Ai.. "These old bones don't move as fast as they used to."

"And that's a bald faced lie if I've ever heard one." Takata thought as he got to his feet. Threading his way around Honzo, who was playing his handheld and oblivious to the world, Takata headed for the door.

When he opened it, he was surprised to see Asako in a sundress, holding a picnic basket along with a man he didn't recognize.

"Ah... Hello, Asako." Takata began, bowing to the both of them "And, sir."

The man smiled and returned Takata's bow. "I'm Ken Suzihara, attorney at lay." he said. "Mr Sano called me. I'm to help you with your divorce, apparently."

"Oh." Takata said as Asako leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You have quite the interesting friend there, Mr Mashida." Suzihara said bemusedly. "On our way up here she tried to set me up with a couple of her nieces."

"Huh?" Takata asked, giving Asako a confused look.

"What? I have a lot of nieces." she said defensively. "Anyways, I brought lunch." Asako added with a grin, holding up the basket.

"Okay..." Takata said, stepping back. "Well, come on in." he said.

"Oh my." Asako said when she saw the kids. "And who are thee little angels?" she asked.

Takata smiled as he came in after closing the door behind them. "Asako, Mr Suzihara,-"

"Call me Ken." Suzihara said.

"Alright, Asako, Ken, I'd like you to meet my children." Takata said as Ai got up from her shogi game and came over to the group of adults. "This is my daughter Ai, she's my oldest." he said, introducing her as she came up.

Ai stopped before them and bowed. "It's nice to meet you." she said respectfully.

"You're a very pretty little girl." Asako said as she and Ken returned Ai's bow. "You're father is very lucky."

Ai blushed scarlet and mumbled her thanks before fleeing back to the shogi board as Asako and Ken watched her flee with some amusement.

"She's gonna have beat the boys off with a stick." Ken murmured to Asako and Takata.

"She already does." Takata grumbled.

"And who is this young gentleman?" Asako asked, looking at Honzo, who was still absorbed in his game and had his ear buds on.

"That, is my son Honzo." Takata said. "He's eight, and scarily enough, takes after his uncle Kenji in a lot of ways. Excuse me." he said, stepping over to his son and nudging him.

"Huh?" Honzo asked, looking up at his father after pausing his game.

"There are guests." Takata said quietly, and nodded in the direction of Asako and Ken.

"Oh! Sorry!" Honzo said as he noticed the two strangers for the first time and scrambled to his feet. "H-hello, nice to meet you!" he said, running over to them and bowing.

"Nice to meet you." Asako and Ken chorused. Bending down, Asako took a closer look at Honzo. "Well, aren't you the spitting image of your father." she said. "All the ladies are gonna be after you..."

"uh-huh." was all that Honzo said, his attention focused on something quite a few inches lower than her face.

Asako smiled in amusement and lifted his chin up with a forefinger. "Up here, dear." she said.

Over in the corner, Dokuhotei snickered in amusement and then looked over to see Ai giving him her patented Death Glare, usually reserved for her brother, but in this case it was being turned on him full force.

"What?" he asked innocently.

"Pervert." Ai growled.

Dokuhotei smiled and moved a piece on the board. "All boys are at his age dear." he said. "And on another note, checkmate."

"Huh- ack!" was Ai's response when she saw what he had done.

As a minature soap opera erupted in the corner by the shogi board, Takata turned to his (now) lawyer and the kitsune.

"Mr Suzihar- I mean, Ken." Takata said. "Would you mind if we talked outside on the balcony?" he finished.

His lawyer's face split into a massive grin. "Oh, not at all." he said. "It's a lovely day outside, and I can't think of any better way to enjoy it than to plot the opening stages of a divorce."

Takata blinked and gave the man an odd look. "You're awfully upbeat and cheerful for an attorney." he pointed out.

"I find that having an optimistic and upbeat attitude helps immensely when dealing with a divorce." Ken replied cheerfully. "That, and I am a Hagakure ninja. There isn't a legal mess that I can't get anyone out of."

"Well, that's good to know." Takata said, not the least bit perturbed after long exposure to Naota.

"Well, you two have fun." Asako said as she started shooing them towards the sliding glass doors. "I'll be in here keeping everyone else company."

Takata was a bit perturbed by her saying that however, especially the way that Honzo's face lit up. "Oh boy..." he muttered under his breath, and grimaced when Asako giggled.

He looked back when the stepped outside and he saw the six -tailed kitsune give him a wink before she sat down with Dokuhotei and the kids along with a pack of cards.

Setsuna winced from the pain in her leg as she stepped through the portal into Sailor Mar's hospital room. Thanks to the advanced technology and magics of the Scouts, she was currently healed and mobile, but it was going to be a week or so before her wounds stopped being so tender.

Rei, on the other hand, wouldn't be so lucky. Setsuna looked down at where the sheets went flat just below where Sailor Mar's lower legs would have been.

"Leave me and my family alone, and I'll leave you alone. Mess with me, and more people are going to die. Got it?"

Setsuna scowled as the demon's warning echoed in the back of her mind, and she reflexively took a deep breath, getting a lungful of the sharp oder of antiseptics, bandages, and whatever the hospital used to clean the floors.

Wincing at the oder, she shifted her gaze up to look at Rei's face. Her eyes were closed and her expression was peaceful, indicative of the deep slumber she was in thanks to the drugs that were undoubtedly dripping into her veins from the IV's stuck into her veins.

Satisfied that Mars was soundly asleep, Setsuna quietly walked over to the door, intent on locking it. Unfortunately, there was no lock on the knob. But she was not deterred however, as there was a chair in the corner that was able to jam underneath doorknob and thus keep anyone from entering- like the two TPDCD constables standing guard outside the door.

Leaning her staff up against the wall, Setsuna reached into the non dimensional space that the Scouts kept their gear and uniforms in, and pulled out a healing device, one of the many gifts that Queen Serenity had left her daughter and her Scouts all those millenia ago.

Activating it, she pointed it at the stumps of Rei's legs and it began to emit a violet white glow.

Finishing the last of his ramen with an appreciative slurp, Winters felt his cell phone go off. Pulling it out, he was surprised to see that the ID listed was "Locksmith".

"Hello." he said as he set his bowl down along with the appropriate payment. "Aren't you supposed to be off for the next couple of days?" he asked.

"My girlfriend is back home and I got paperwork to catch up on or Keeper will have my nuts in a sling." Locksmith, aka Staff Sargent Calvin Machiavelli answered. "Is that a good enough answer, sir?" he asked.

"It works for me." Winters answered. "Whats going on?"

"I just heard over the TPDCD radio band that someone just made off with Sailor Mar's." Machiavelli replied. "They have no idea who it is though."

"And I take it we do?" Winters asked.

"Uh -huh." Machiavelli answered. "According to sat data, it was that new Scout, Pluto, who did it."

"Where'd she take her?" Winters asked as he left the ramen stand.

"That temple that Mar's lives at." Machiavelli answered. "According to the sats, the rest of the Scouts are there as well."

"Thanks." Winters said. "I'm about six blocks away. I'll go check it out."

"That's why I called you. And be careful." Machiavelli warned. "We don't want them ate."

"I can assure you, I can handle this, Locksmith." Winters countered. "I have a little bit of experience in keeping a low profile."

"Just making sure, Sir." Machiavelli pointed out.

"I know." Winters said. "Talk to you later."

"Later, Sir." Machiavelli said before hanging up.

Looking both ways, Winters crossed the street to where his car was parked and started to formulate a plan on how to infiltrate the temple grounds.

Naota was happily watching Lia braid her hair as she got ready to go out to her parents place when his computer beeped that he had gotten an e-mail. Getting up, he walked over to it and opened it up, and was surprised to see that it was from the key logger on Mercurys computer. She was accessing the records of when she and her friends had been following him.

And, reading further into the keystrokes, he saw that she was apparently running a database search on what they had that would stop a yokai, along with a web search on that very subject.

Growling in irritation, Naota closed his e-mail and stood up. "Hey Lia, something's came up." he said. "Think you could go on ahead of me?" he asked.

"Yeah." Lia answered as she turned around to look at him. "What's going on?" she asked.

"The Scouts apparently didn't get the message." Naota answered. "That keylogger I installed on Mercury's computer just reported that they're looking for stuff that can stop yokai."

Lia sighed and gave her husband a serious look. "Do you have to go right now?" she asked.

Naota nodded reluctantly. "Yeah." he said. "If I don't steer them away now, it'll be a lot worse when we do have to deal with them."

"Be careful." Lia said. "I don't want anybody else to get hurt."

"Neither do I." Naota answered as he wandered over to where Lia was sitting. "Can I get a kiss before I go out?" he asked.

"Sure." Lia said, and pulled him down to her level before giving him a peck on the cheek.

"That's it?" Naota asked. "Just a peck on the cheek?"

Lia arched an eyebrow at her husband. "If you come back quick I'll give you the rest..." she offered.

"Well, that's an incentive." Naota said before turning and heading for the door. "See you in a few."

"See you in a few." Lia echoed as Naota grabbed his keys before slipping on his shoes and heading out the door.

After parking his car in a convenient place about three blocks away, Winters walked the rest of the way to the temple grounds, specifically the street bordering the rear of the grounds. Pausing, he looked up and down the street and saw that it was deserted, and then with scarcely any effort at all he scaled the stone retaining wall and the fence atop that.

Grabbing a low hanging branch of a conveniently placed tree, Winters climbed up until he had a reasonably good view of the grounds. Taking a small pair of binoculars out of his pocket, he did a careful and thorough scan of the grounds.

Not seeing any obvious alarm systems nor any patrols of guards, Winters lowered the binoculars and considered his plan of attack as he studied the lay out of the temple grounds. Among the briefing information that he'd been given about this assignment, there had been surveillance and satellite photos of the temple grounds, but in his experience it was always better to be there in the flesh when you making an infiltration plan.

So, perched in his treetop observation post, Winters began to plan.

Inside the temple residence the Scouts were crowded around Rei, making sure that she was okay when Mercury's computer started beeping.

"Ami, why is the Mercury Computer beeping?" Usagi asked.

"It's a perimeter alarm." Ami responded as she dug the device out of her purse. " I set it up so that if anything not human got within twenty meters of us it'd sound an alarm."

"I didn't know the Mercury Computer could do that." Minako commented as Ami opened the computer and began typing.

"It didn't, at least not until I wrote a program that could allow it to do that." Ami answered distractedly, peering at the results on the screen.

"What is it Ami?" Usagi asked. "Is...he back?"

Ami shook her head vehemently. "No. I programmed in a special alarm just for him." she explained. "It's definitely not him, and it's definitely not a youma."

"So it's not him." Usagi confirmed, and looked at Rei. "Can you sense anything?" she asked.

Rei was white as a sheet. "N-no." she stammered. "I-it-s definitely n-n-not him..."

"Princess." Setsuna said quietly everyone in the room turned to look at her. "It's not him. Definitely."

"Are you sure?" Usagi asked.

Setsuna nodded once. "He said, quote; Leave me and my family alone, and I'll leave you alone. Mess with me, and more people are going to die; unquote." she said. "I believe he was sincere about that."

Rei flushed with anger at Setsuna's words. "Setsuna, he cut off my legs!" she hissed. "He killed Michiru and Haruka. They were your friends, for kami's sake!"

Setsuna leveled a gaze as cold as her world at Rei. "Yes, and if it hadn't been for him, you and Ami would be dead." she said.

Rei's gaze on the other hand, was as hot as the fire in the temple. "So why did he kill Michiru and Haruka?" she asked.

"Because we attacked him." Setsuna answered, her voice liquid helium.

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone looked at Usagi, who was looking down at the two of them, her glare as hot as the sun.

"This is the worst time for us to be arguing." she said, looking at Rei and Setsuna in turn, then the rest of the Scouts. "We have more important problems. Ami, where is the intruder, exactly?" she asked.

The blue haired scout blinked and looked at her computer. It took her a moment, but she was able to get an exact fix on him.

"H-he's in an old oak tree at the back of the grounds." she said.

Usagi nodded. "Alright." she said. "We can't just go charging in like last time. We're gonna have to think this one through. Any ideas?"

There was silence for a few moments, then Minako raised her hand. " I-I have one..." she said.

As Naota was walking to the strain station, he was looking at his PDA as it streamed a real time look at what Mercury was doing on her computer. He frowned as he saw that she had called off her searches on yokai -related information and was now apparently using the computers sensors to track something that wasn't human on the edge of it's sensor radius.

His frown deepened into a scowl as he saw that she was doing a detailed scan on whatever her sensors had picked up, looking for weaknesses. Digging into a pocket he produced his cell phone and dialed a number.

"Heeeelllllo!" the slightly inebriated sounding and all together way too cheerful voice of Asako said on the other end. "What's up?"

"You seem to know everything that's going on around here, could you answer a question for me?" Naota asked.

"I think you're being overly generous, but okay." Asako said. "What do you want to know?"

"Where do the Scouts like to hang out?" he asked. "For meetings, or whatever the hell it is they do."

There was a silence on the other end as Asako wracked her brain for the answer. "At a temple, the one who's a miko's." she answered. "By the way, nice job on cutting her down to size."

"You're welcome." Naota said, his voice neutral. "Where is it in Juuban? "he asked.

"You know where the park is?" Asako asked. "The one that Lia was playing with them in?"

"Yeah." Naota said.

"It's six blocks south of that." Asako finished. "You know the area?"

"Reasonably." answered Naota. "Thanks for the help."

"You're welcome!" Asako answered, still ebulliently cheerful. "You need a ride over there?"

"Nah." Naota answered. "Now that I know where it is, I can shadow jump over there."

"Okay."Asako said. "Ja, matta!"

"Ja, matta!" Naota answered before hanging up.

Looking around, Naota spotted a handy alleyway and ducked into it.

With the grace brought on with long experience, Winters eased down out of the tree and began to ghost closer to the house. As he did, his hearing began to pick up voices.

"okay, now get ready.." a girls voice said.

"-almost there.." a second girls voice said.

Winters paused and slowly began to reach for the small of his back where he had his M1911A1 MEU(SC)(3) holstered. His fingers had just brushed the cool metal and composites of the grip when he heard the first girl say "he's stopped", and then the next thing he knew, a large black sphere had blasted through the wall right at him.

The attack missed him by a mile, his reflexes making him jump well to the side as it hit the ground right where he had been standing, digging a large divot in the ground. His 1911 was out and up as he searched out targets.

He'd just acquired one when more attacks came out of the hole in the wall at him, all large, sparkly, and flashy. He ducked and dodged them in any case- after seeing what that black sphere had did, Winters was in no mood to see what the other attacks could do to his tender flesh.

He was far from idle though. The little man he kept inside his head for situations like this had the 1911 up and spitting death at them, but much to his irritation he saw that they had what looked like an energy shield up.

Grinding his molars in irritation, he dove into the bushes, looking for cover.

"Did we get him?" Sailor Venus asked as they stepped out of the house and looked at the wrecked of the yard that they had blasted apart.

"I don't know, maybe." Jupiter said.

"Well?" Moon asked, glancing at Mercury.

Mercury, for her part, said nothing as she looked down at her computer in confusion.

"This doesn't make sense." she said, slipping through various sensor modes and playing with the bandwidths.

"What doesn't make sense?" Moon asked, keeping an eye on the bushes where their intruder had ducked into.

"These readings." Mercury elaborated as she tried to make heads or tails of what her computer was telling her. "They're... shifting." she added. "He's changing from human into something else..."

"He's changing into a demon?" asked Venus as she and the others began to spread out a bit.

Mercury shook her head. "No, nothing like that. I mean he's literally changing into something else. It's not a youma or like that other guy..." she explained. "It's like he's adding another species onto himself-"

The rest of her sentence was cut off, as there was a growl from the bushes as they shook from something massive and powerful within them.

"Uh, I think we should get back.." Venus suggested.

Jupiter was about to snap off a cocky retort when something large, black, furry, and with a lot of teeth erupted out of the bushes heading straight for them. Sailor Venus had the misfortune of being the one closest to it, and the last thing she saw was a flash of ivory teeth right before they ripped her throat out.

Jupiter was the first one to react, powering up an attack, the surge of adrenalin from her fight or flight response making her power up almost instantly without the theatrics. The creature saw flash of light out of the corner of his eye and jumped aside as her magical blast ripped a foot wide furrow in the earth and hit Venus's body instead. Jupiter recoiled in horror as her friend's body was blown to shreds and almost failed to notice the creature was already lunging at her.

Not that it did her a bit of good, her reflexes were far, far, too slow for the situation that she and the remaining scouts found themselves in- a close quarters fight with a transformed lycanthrope.

Naota had just arrived in Jubaan ward, having gotten there in record time by shadow jumping into along the shadows cast by the elevated rail line that connected the two wards. True, he gotten lost once, but in his defense, that had occurred in a tangle of buildings, and he had never really tried to do a long range shadow jump before.

So, having safely arrived at the Jubaan train station, Naota had set off for the temple. He was six blocks away when he saw the first flash of magical light against the treetops. Behind him he heard a couple stop and gawk at the lights flashing along the trees, and someone commented that it must be someone setting off some fireworks or something like that.

Naota, knowing better than anyone around him as to what was the cause of the lights flashing into the late afternoon shadows, took a look around. Everyone on the street was busy looking at the light show emanating from the temple, so he easily slipped into a nearby alley where welcoming shadows lay.

Dipping into them, he felt the presence of the temple like a beacon in his mind, but there was a glittering web of wards surrounding it, like a fortress's wall woven out of spiderwebs. Not that Noata was deterred by this however- he was a ninja.

He might not have known but the most rudimentary things about miko magic, but he was a ninja, and a wall is a wall. He couldn't go over it, he couldn't go through it, so he went under it. And once he was past the wards he saw the battle ground that was the backyard of the temple through the ghostly photo -negative sight that was his vision when he was in the shadows.

Most of the Scouts were dead, all but three of them. One was cowering in the house, legless and clutching something that black with spiritual energy, a void against the white background. The second one was just as black, a pigtailed silhouette against the pale background. The third was small, a child, a dark gray with a black void at her core with a wispy contrail of shadow connecting her with Sailor Moon.

"Interesting..." Naota thought as he considered the shadowy contrail "They're related... like a mother and daughter..." he added as he looked at what they were facing.

They were facing... a creature. It looked like a canine, but on two legs. It was standing over the whitening body of what Naota guessed was Pluto, facing them. It's body was almost mundane in coloration, with a only a hint of gray to show that there was some magic in this creature.

Yet it had already ripped through the remaining Scouts and was gearing up to finish the job. Wondering what the hell was going on, Naota decided that his best option for answers was to get up there and put himself between the creature and the Scouts.

Dropping his disguise, Naota willed himself up towards the creature and took command of it's shadow.

Winters stepped over the still twitching corpse of Sailor Pluto, his attention focused solely on the throughly terrified Sailor Moon. Off in the corner of his vision was a pink haired child who bore a strong resemblance to Moon- part of Winters mind suspected that they were related.

The child screamed something at him in high pitched Japanese, but he was too focused on Moon to pay attention to it. Besides, he'd figured out early on in the fight that she was absolutely no threat to him. The older of the two scouts was backing away from him, a weird looking scepter held in her shaking hand, as she tried to stammer out something, one last bit of bravado in the face of certain death.

Winters had to give the terrified moon princess credit, she was certainly brave. All of their magical attacks against him had been useless, and he'd ripped through them like tissue paper, but she was still bound and determined to stand and fight against him in defense of her friends.

He crouched down, readying himself for the final leap, when his vision caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He looked around, wondering who or what was going to attack him, when he saw his shadow stretch out and whip around in front of him.

"What the-" Winters thought as his shadow went pitch black, far darker than the area lighting allowed.

Despite all of the many, many, many strange things he'd seen over the years, Winters took a step back as a figure rose up out of the pitch black void of his shadow. The figure was the same pitch black of the shadow, nothing more than a humanoid silhouette that just soaked up light.

A tail swished out from behind it, and then the figure opened it's eyes, which were glowing the red of iron in the forge, and glowing golden stripes appeared on it's skin, weirdly giving it form and definition. Then the weirdest thing of all happened. It raised it's arm and leveled a Mark 23 SOCOM with an early generation LAM at his head.

"That's enough." the figure said to him, his gleaming teeth oddly visible as he spoke. "There's been too much killing already."

Winters bared his teeth at the attacker. "They attacked me." he responded.

"And you've defended yourself very well." the figure countered. "But killing her," he pointed behind him at the terrified and now bewildered Sailor Moon "that's just murder."

"She and her friends started it. "Winters argued. "I'm finishing it."

"It is finished." the figure responded. "Walk away. They were no threat to you to begin with, and they can't do anything to you now." the figure cocked the hammer back on its pistol for emphasis.

Winters looked into the glowing eyes of the figure and saw that there was no hesitation there. Quickly he weighed his options. He knew very little about what this figure, who now that he had stopped to think about it, was undoubtedly Naota Sano, and what he could do.

And Winters was soldier, and had been one for a long time. He knew what happened when one went into battle without good intel. He nodded and stepped back, holding his hands up and out in a nonthreatening display.

"Alright. You win." Winters told the figure. "Until we meet again."

The figure growled slightly and flipped the decocker down before lowering his pistol. He watched as the creature disappeared into the bushes, then he turned around to face Sailor Moon.

"So." he said, letting the shadow bleed away into his regular form. "You failed to heed my warning."

"Y-you knew? "Moon asked in a strangled voice.

"I know all." Naota said, looking around at the carnage. "It's a good thing I was keeping an eye on you and your friends, because obviously you weren't thinking too clearly."

"B-but-" Moon started to say, but Naota cut her off.

"No buts." he said waving a finger in warning. "Did you not learn from what happened when you went up against my wife and I?"

"Why do you care?" Moon asked him. "You killed Neptune and Uranus."

"They tried to kill me." Naota pointed out. "And it was you and your friends who followed us and attacked us. I did what I did in self defense." he added. "And if I was you, in light of recent events, I'd seriously consider giving up your career as a magical girl."

"You're saying I should quit." stated Moon. "And leave the Earth defenseless?"

Naota snorted in amusement. "Do you really think that it's defenseless? After all that has happened in the last couple of days" he asked. "I'm far from the only yokai running around, and theres got more of whatever that thing was running around."

Sailor Moon opened her mouth to say something, but then she realized that he was right. She and her friends had defeated every enemy who had threw themselves at the Scouts, and they had been all but wiped out by a demon and what looked like a werewolf.

And she had the feeling that Naota was describing the tip of the iceberg.

"I didn't think it would end like this." Sailor Moon said, dropping to her knees as she conceded defeat.

"Nobody ever does." Naota answered as he put his pistol away. "You going to leave me alone now? "

Moon nodded once.

"Good." said Naota. "Now, I had better get going. I hear a TPDCD mecha coming, and I'd rather not have to deal with them."

Sailor Moon looked up just in time to see Naota throw a smoke bomb and disappear. As the smoke began to clear, Mini Moon walked up to her.

"What happened?" Mini Moon asked.

"We lost." Sailor Moon answered as a TPDCD shouldered it's way through the trees. "That's what happened."

End.

that's half an ounce, by the way.

Also mistakenly known in the US as .308. This is a common misconception, for both rounds are dimensionally similar, there are NOT identical, the main difference being that .308 Winchester has a maximum pressure rating of 60,000 PSI, and 7.62 NATO has a maximum pressure of 50,000. It's not much, but it's still there.

And unless you want to be separated from your rifle by a blowtorch, you should NEVER mix them.

This concludes your firearms safety tip of the day.

That's a customized 1911 used by the US Marine Corps for their various specialist teams. It's been heavily customized with Novak sights, Houge grips, and a host of other modifications. And as an interesting note as to how well designed the 1911 is, until very recently, all of the frames that they used for these pistols were actual 1911A1 Government models dating back to WW 2. Some of these guns had well over half a million rounds put through them, and they were perfectly serviceable.

And to think, we traded 1911's for Beretta's just because they were more modern and chambered

in 9mm Parabellum.

Author's note: Yaay! Another chapter! Don't worry, I haven't given this thing up. I'm gonna finish First Steps if it kills me.