Shattered Skies: The Morning Lights

CHAPTER 15: Detours

Chapter 15: Detours

-VERTEX ONE: 15.556984-

Underneath Game Center Crown

In other, more normal circumstances, the sight would have been comical: two adult cats, one black and one white, pressing frantically at strange keyboard interfaces as they shouted complex streams of information back and forth at each other in perfect Japanese. A much smaller grey kitten dashed across the room, to and fro between them, attempting to assist in any way she could.

The circumstances, however, were far from normal: according to their sensors, all of the Sailor Senshi and Tuxedo Mask had vanished off the face of the earth.

"- sectors four through nineteen, no readings. That covers all of Shibuya," said Artemis, his furry face bathed in the cool blue glow of the monitors. "I'm moving onto Shinjuku!"

"Don't bother, Shinjuku's readings are negative," said Luna, tapping away on the opposite end of the console. "Scanning Chiyoda, coordinates-" Luna rattled off a string of numbers.

"Damn!" Artemis whacked a control crystal with his paw in frustration. It chirped petulantly at him in response. "All right, Shinagawa district, quadrant one, sector one through five, scanning..."

The kitten stopped in the middle of the control room, lost. "Mother, Father, what can I do?"

"Just stay where you are. Chiyoda, sectors three through nine clear. No sign of them."

"But I want to help-"

"What about our allies? We should call the Sisters, Helios, even the Star Lights if we have to... are any of them responding? Any signatures at all?"

"Comm frequencies are blank. They're all blank..."

"Mother!"

"What is it, Diana?" Luna rubbed her eyes. Staring at the constantly shifting cluster of holo-readouts was tiring under the best of conditions, but this-

"Mother, someone's coming!" said Diana, pointing to the top of a staircase that appeared to be made of glass. Vague shadows moved on the outside of the command center's starry domed ceiling.

"Stay behind us." The older cats' hackles rose as they abandoned their keyboards and drew close together. The identical crescent moon marks on their foreheads shone... and Diana had to crane her neck far upwards, for her mother and father weren't cats any longer. Luna was a stunningly beautiful young woman with wavy black locks and a yellow sundress, and Artemis was a strong, confident man dressed in light grey, his ivory hair flowing halfway down his back.

At the top of the stairs, the hidden doorway slid open. Luna and Artemis took each other's hands...

"You're kidding," said a familiar voice with an Osakan accent, in stupefied disbelief. "This was where their base was all along?! Underneath the... Oh no, stairs-"

"Careful, Naru!" The young man with thick glasses took hold of her hands. "One step at a time-"

"Naru...?" Baffled, Luna gaped at them. "Umino? What are you doing here?! How did you even get in?"

"We led them here, it was an emergency!" Squeezing past the couple making their way slowly down the stairs came two identical twin girls dressed in leotards of sorts, one in red and one in violet, their long black hair giving the impression of feathered wings as it rippled in their wake. It was the red-clad one who spoke, in a harsh, almost abrasive tone. "I know, I know, 'No civilians in the control room,' but they were in the area when the Senshi disappeared, and that field was swallowing up the whole-"