Chapter 14 - The Aftermath
Sailor Jupiter paced the floor of the New York Downtown Hospital.
There were several officers standing around to protect the famous Sailor Moon. Sergeant Dante took a drink from his flask. Any time a fellow officer was wounded, a feeling of guilt and remorse caused him to drink. He had never met the woman who at this moment was now in critical condition in the operating room. Yet he felt like Sailor Moon was indeed part of his team.
She had put her own life on the line to take down the drug-dealer that had eluded him for so long. Sollozzo had met his maker, but he didn't want Sailor Moon to do the same.
Sirico sat down in the waiting room talking on the phone while texting on Dante's. His phone was now floored with questions and comments about the incident on Church Street. On his own phone, he explained the situation to the Police Commissioner:
"Yes, I'm serious, Sollozzo is dead." Silence. "Almost all of them, a few guys from the mob ran away, but we arrested 126 people." Silence. "No serious injuries, but we do have one in critical condition." Silence. "Sailor Moon." More silence, Sirico rolled his eyes. "No this is not a joke. We're in the hospital with her right now." Silence. "Sailor V is out here."
Sailor V, or Venus, sat in one of the chairs leaning her forehead into her hand. She was still wearing her full orange uniform but there was a bandage on her leg. Sitting right next to her was Sailor Mars: her legs spread out, her gloved arms dangling off to the sides, her head against the wall. Sailor Mars seemed to stare directly into the bright lights in the ceiling. Sitting off to the side of the chair were Luna and Artemis. Luna had her eyes closed trying to take in what had just happened. Artemis consoled her. Sailor Jupiter paced back towards the Scouts' chairs.
"Well if anyone can save her," Jupiter stopped to talk to Raye, "It's Amy."
"I've never seen her like that," Raye said silently, "She wouldn't leave her side. She just kept arguing with the doctors until Dante made them take her in."
Jupiter chuckled slightly, "And Amy's gonna be the one to save her. All that studying and training to be a doctor, well this is the time."
There was hesitation. Sailor Mars sighed.
"I dunno," she said coldly, "The doctor did say her wound looks fatal."
Sailor Venus fault back tears. Jupiter and Mars looked right at her.
"This is all my fault," Venus brought her head back up, "This is all my fault. I made this happen."
Sailor Jupiter knelt before her, "Mina, it's not your fault." She said.
"It is," Mina interrupted, "If I had just listened to you guys from the beginning, none of this would have happened."
"Mina-" Jupiter tried to calm her down. She grabbed her hands.
Venus was really crying now, "If I had just done what you guys did… But no I had to go out and be Sailor V again. It's all my fault!" She buried her head into her hands."
"STOP IT!" Raye cried so loud everyone turned to see her. Sirico looked up from texting on his phone. Dante nearly spilled his drink. Mina looked right at her. Sailor Mars got up and grabbed a hold on Sailor Venus' hands. Jupiter backed away. Venus stood up until she was eye to eye with the fire scout.
"Mina," Sailor Mars didn't seem to care if everyone knew what Venus' real name was, and it didn't seem Venus was making a big deal about it either. "I don't blame you for what happened. You did what you thought was right. And it was right."
Venus just stared at her.
"I was wrong," Raye found it hard to say that, "You're Sailor Venus. I'm Sailor Mars. And Serena is Sailor Moon. By walking away from that, Sollozzo won. He split us up. If Jupiter and I had been there with you two, this wouldn't have happened."
"But if Amy and I hadn't left," Mina interjected, "We wouldn't have split up in the first place."
Luna felt she need to step in. She stood before the three scouts.
"Take it easy scouts. We've been through worse. There's no finger-pointing here, nobody is at fault. Sailor Moon made a choice to fight. I told her to run but she wouldn't do it."
"And if Sailor Moon survives-" Artemis chimed in.
"She will!" Jupiter cracked her knuckles.
The white cat continued: "There won't be any bounty on her head anymore. Venus, you found the man who was responsible for all this and you took him down. As far as we're concerned, that makes you a hero."
Mina sniffed in her tears, "It'll all be for nothing if Sailor Moon doesn't make it."
"Stop saying that!" Sailor Mars said. She was now crying. "I'm sorry for everything I said Mina. If you want to go out and fight crime, I'll be there with you. If you want to stay home and just TV, I'll watch with you. I don't care what happens to us. I just want to do it with you Minako Aino, Sailor Venus, codename Sailor V!"
They immediately embraced and cried together. A tear came down Lita's eye. Mars consoled her blonde companion with a kiss. The brunette came up to them and put her arms around both of them. As the three embraced each other, Sirico could not help but look at them wishing he could join in. Dante walked over towards him.
"Don't even think about it!" He said.
Sirico looked at his partner who took another drink.
Just at that moment, the same doctor who had told them of Sailor Moon's condition walked into the room. The three scouts let go of each other and moved towards him. Sirico got up from his chair and followed Dante towards the doctor. Luna and Artemis inched forward.
The doctor nodded 'yes'.
Venus started shaking with relief, "She's gonna be all right?"
"Be honest with you," the doctor said, "There was no hope for her the minute she came in. But that blue-haired girl, she wouldn't give up. She got the bullet out and healed the internal injuries."
Venus began crying tears of joy. Raye hugged her friend.
"Oh," Jupiter looked to the ceiling, "Way to go Amy!"
Dante sighed and took another drink.
"I knew she was gonna be fine," Sirico said smiling.
Dante decided not to respond to his partner.
"Anyway," the doctor said, "You can go back if you want. That girl heals like she's from outer-space or something."
Inside the hospital room, Amy (now with her gloves back on) would not take her hands off of Serena. She was still Sailor Moon, her tiara secured on her head and her gloves still on, but her leotard and skirt were replaced by a hospital gown. Amy's tears had by now subsided, but her over-emotional relief was still very visible. Her gloved hands were on Serena's face, her lips locked with her lover's. Mercury pulled away for a second.
"I guess you get something special now," Amy smiled playfully.
"Yeah," Sailor Moon said with a weak voice, "Ice cream!"
Sailor Mercury just laughed happy to hear that her ditzy girlfriend was okay. She kissed her again.
The door flew open. The doctor was the first to appear and was shocked to see Amy still making out with his patient. Sailor Mars and Jupiter appeared next and watched the two lovebirds like it was no big deal.
"Hey!" Jupiter mimicked a New York accent, "Look at this girl over here!"
Mercury moved away from Sailor Moon who smiled to see her friends come in. "Lita! Did you bring me ice-cream?"
"Oh my God," Raye said holding her hand to her chest, "You scared the beJesus out of us Meatball-head!"
Venus simply put her hands to her mouth and tears came down her eyes.
Dante and Sirico stood by the doorway.
Lita and Raye hugged their princess. "The Sailor Scouts are all reunited!" Sailor Jupiter said.
"Thanks Lita," Sailor Moon corrected herself, "I mean Jupiter," She smiled, "But seriously," she frowned, "Where's my ice-cream?"
"Hey Doc," Lita turned to the doctor, "Can we get some ice-cream up here?"
The doctor didn't respond, he just looked at his clip-board. "Okay Sailor Moon," the doctor said, "You're chest wound is healing remarkably well, what your blue-haired friend did to you is beyond any science I understand, but you'll still need to get lots of rest."
"Yes," Mercury took over, "You had heat penetration and some cavitation. The bullet missed your left ventricle, but did hit your esophagus and your diaphragm. The bullet was successfully extracted and I was able to help heal your organs. Otherwise they would have been gone. You're going to experience some mild non-cardiac chest pains, but your body should stabilize within no time."
There was silence from everyone, even the doctor.
"Oh Amy," Serena smiled, "I missed not understand a single word you just said!"
Amy kissed her princess again.
"I can't imagine what it must have been like," Mars said, "When you came to."
"She leapt onto the patient and kissed her," The doctor said without a smile on his face, "I would have stopped her, but it seemed to be helping her condition."
Mina's tears were becoming harder to ignore. Sailor Moon frowned and looked at her friend. Mercury let go of the princess and turned her head. Now all eyes were on Venus.
"What's wrong Mina?" Sailor Moon asked with concern in her voice. Nobody really seemed to care that they were calling each other by their real names. The cops and the doctor were people they could trust.
"I'm just glad you're okay," Sailor Venus said as she made her way towards the bed. Mina grabbed a hold of her princess and kissed her on the lips. "I'm sorry for everything!"
"Sorry?" Sailor Moon pushed her friend back. It seemed that her strength was normal again. "You beat the guy who wanted me dead."
"Uh," Sirico pointed to Dante, "Actually Dante was-"
Dante closed his eyes and raised his hand. Sirico stopped in mid-sentence.
"We should have all been fighting together in the first place!" Sailor Moon lectured looking over at Luna who sat near the door. Luna didn't say anything.
Sirico's phone chimed. He opened it and read a text-message. His eyes widened. He handed it over to Dante who read it over very carefully. His eyes then pointed to Sailor Moon and Venus. He smiled.
All the scouts were looking at him. "What is it Dante?" Mercury asked.
Dante kept his eyes on the phone as his legs moved towards Sailor Moon and Venus, "Well," He said, "According to the NYPD commissioner, Sailor Moon will be getting a NYPD Purple Heart."
"A Purple heart?" Sailor Moon said confused; she started to whine, "I don't want my heart to be purple!"
Raye rolled her eyes.
"But Sailor Moon," Mercury said, "Isn't in the NYPD."
"Well as the commissioner sees it," Dante continued, "All of you are honorary members of the NYPD for helping us take down Sollozzo. And you Sailor V," He hesitated as he smiled at Mina. The blonde scout was anxious to hear what he was about to say, "This isn't official yet, but It looks like you're gonna be receiving the NYPD Medal of Valor."
Everyone looked to Mina. She stood there and smiled embarrassed. "Thank you sir." She saluted him. Dante saluted back.
"Congratulations Sailor Venus," Sirico smiled, "And listen, if you ever want to hang out and get some pizza some time-"
Dante rolled his eyes.
"Oh my God!" Sailor Moon cried out smiling goofy-like, "I love pizza!"
"Really?" Sirico was smiling just as goofy at the wounded princess, "I bet you don't love it as much as me!"
"I bet you I love it more!"
As the two of them continued to babble on like little girls about which one of them like pizza more. Sailor Mars and Dante looked to each other annoyed.
"So Sailor V," Dante said as the elevator descended. Dante and Sirico stood in one corner of the elevator. Sailor Moon was in a wheelchair (Hospital rules). Mercury stood behind the princess, her hand reaching down to hold Serena's, with Jupiter standing next to the bluenette. Sailor Mars stood by Venus holding her waste. Luna was on Mercury's shoulder, and Artemis was on Mina's. There were a couple of uniformed officers with them. "Is there any way we can convince you and Mercury to stay on the team?"
"I don't think so Dante," Sailor Venus said to him in an honest voice. She turned to Raye. "I got another team I have to stay with." Raye smiled and kiss her on the cheek.
"Oh Mina," Sailor Moon said, "You can still work with the cops-"
Just as she finished her thought the door opened. Dante's smile faded as he saw what stood before him. Something he dreaded more than anything.
"Oh shit!" Dante said softly.
Bright lights went off as dozens of members of the paparazzi rushed towards them. Sirico and the two officers pushed the press back as they questioned the Scouts and officers:
"Sailor Moon how long have you been in New York?"
"Which one of you is really Sailor V?"
"Sailor Moon what do you call that hairstyle?"
"Okay okay," Sirico said as they all moved forward trying to clear the way, "Back it up people, we got a girl in a wheelchair here." The press practically shoved their microphones and cameras in everyone's faces. Sailor Mars broke away from Venus and helped the officers to push people back.
"Sergeant Dante," A lady from the press came up to the dark-brown haired officer, "Cindy Pearl, New York Times. Is it true that you were the one to terminate the drug-dealer known as Sollozzo."
"I have no comment at this time," Dante waved his hand, "We'll have a press conference outside the station this afternoon."
They all finally made it outside where more members of the press and network news stood outside waiting for them. A huge crowd was gathered around the hospital cheering for the famous Japanese super-hero. News-vans were parked all along the red zone. Cameras and boom-stands centered on Sailor Moon. The people behind them all spoke at the same time:
"Sailor Moon, NBC News, do you plan to continue fighting crime in New York?"
"This is CBS News, do you have anything to say for your fans here in the city?"
"FoxNews, do you think the country is being destroyed by the liberal socialist administration?"
"Hey guys!" Sailor Jupiter interrupted, "The woman just came out of the Hospital."
"You're making her uncomfortable!" Mercury said.
"Doesn't anyone want to talk about Sailor Venus?" Venus raised her hands trying to show off.
Sailor Moon simply couldn't contain herself having all this press around her. Even if it may have been a bad idea, she decided to jump out of the wheel chair. All of the scouts and police officers watched her in disbelief. She stood as if she had never been shot. Cameras and microphones were there to capture it all.
"I," She said aloud raising her gloved arm into the sky, "AM Sailor Moon!" She did her usual hand gesturing routine, "I fight for love and justice, the pretty suited soldier." The large crowd was screaming even louder, almost as if The Beatles were there. "And to all evil doers in New York City, I say on behalf of the moon," She hesitated the famous lines, "I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and THAT means YOU!" She pointed to the cameras.
The crowd erupted in applause. The other Sailor Scouts could not help but stand with their princess.