Angel of Death
My name is Minako Aino, and I'm a officer in the
Japanese Self Defense Force. I have blonde hair and
blue eyes, possibly due to a western ancestor, I'm
cheerful and outgoing and love eating spicy foods. I'm
twenty six years old, a Lieutenant and I'm responsible
for the most powerful weapon on Earth.
"Are we there yet?" Hotaru Tomoe asked, the black
haired young woman in a simple jumpsuit asked. Her
skin was almost white, ghost like, and her violet eyes
seemed deeply wounded, somehow.
"We'll be at the drop zone in a minute," Minako said
softly. She reached out to put a hand on her shoulder,
"Do you want me to go down with you?"
"No," Hotaru shook her head grimly, "it'll be too
dangerous. Go to our lines as planned." There was a
long moment where all they heard was the stealthed
chopper's engine going then she asked, "Do you have
the medicine with you?"
"Yes," Minako took the injector out from her uniform's
pocket as she asked, "do you want me to...?"
"Not yet," Hotaru sighed, "I just feel better knowing
you have it." She looked down at her feet as she
softly added, "The more often I do this, the more I
feel my control slipping... you may need to use that
today."
"I'll be ready," Minako promised her as she put the
container of serum away.
"We're coming up to drop point now," the pilot
declared, the voice booming from the cockpit up front.
Hotaru unclipped herself from her seat and walked over
to the hatch, "Strap yourself in, Mina." The emotion
seemed to fade out from her voice as something else
took over, "It's going to be bumpy, Officer Aino."
"Good luck," Minaki said as Hotaru pulled open the
hatch, the wind buffeting the inside of the chopper,
"Nine."
"I won't need it," and without another word Hotaru
leapt out of the vehicle without a parachute, hundreds
of feet above the battlefield.
"God," MInako twisted in her seat to look out a
window, watching as Hotaru fell. Though more
acrurately it was Nine, the combat persona implanted
in Hotaru that was falling, that was now fully in
possession of her body.
Nine stretched her hands out as the false flesh on her
back exploded, twin silvery metal wings deploying. The
glass-like feathers glowed, unearthly technology
slowing her fall as she swept down towards the
battlefield. Her arms shredded, false skin falling
away as cybernetics were exposed, then the metal
reshaping as cannons formed on the end of each limb.
Japanese trooper made a sound that was half awe, half
fear as she swept be above him, focused not on her
allies but the enemy.
"Target locked," the cold voice murmured as Nine
soared in even as the enemy realized their danger.
Weapons emplacements opened up, bullets and mortars
flying as Nine seemed to ignore the few strikes they
made. Her body absorbed the hits harmlessly while she
dropped to the ground. She swept the perimeter with
those emotionless eyes, then coldly moved forward as
she began to fire.
"It's her!" a frantic soldier squealed in English, the
man laying in the mud and rubble left over after a
near miss, the wounded man weakly grabbing for a
weapon. Without a word Nine gestured towards him,
there was a flash of power and she strode onwards as a
pool of blood slowly formed around his now lifeless
form.
"Can you bring us down by the Japanese lines?" Minako
asked the pilot as they made a turn away from where
the lights of battle could be seen.
"Yes ma'am," he nodded. He was quiet a moment then
nervously asked, "What's it like... working with her?"
"She's a hell of a good soldier," Minako answered,
something in her tone of voice saying not to persue it
any farther. Almost as soon as the copter touched down
she was off, striding towards the officers who were
waiting for her. "Sir," she saluted.
"Aino," Rei Hino leaned on a cane, the black haired
older woman looking at her tiredly through one eye,
the other covered with a eye patch.
"Hotaru was deployed as ordered," Minako said with a
certain amount of regret. "I wish we didn't have to,
but..."
"You mean Nine," Rei answered firmly, "I pray to god
that Hotaru isn't even aware of everything she does
for us."
‘Right,' Minako remembered, ‘she attended a catholic
school when she was younger.' Following Rei towards
the command tent she quietly asked, "Are we going to
need to keep using Nine like this? Hotaru's scared
she's losing control."
Rei waited until they reached the command tent before
saying, "The war's going bad for us, Minako. We need
to use whatever weapons we have."
"I know," Minako sighed as she looked up at the battle
field monitors that relayed images from the Mercury
spy-eyes following Nine, silently wishing there was
another way. If the madman Professor Tomoe hadn't
enhanced his daughter she knew they wouldn't even be
in this situation, for good or ill.
"She's incredible, isn't she?" Usagi murmured
admiringly, the pink haired daughter of Queen Serenity
sitting in front of the screens, the commander of
their force casually nodding greetings to them both.
"Yes ma'am," Rei agreed, keeping any bitterness over
being commanded by a child out of her tone of voice.
Nine shredded a weapon's emplacement on the screen,
her energy blade resembling a reaper's scythe for a
moment. With deadly purpose she advanced into the
wildly firing troops and began to cut them down with
ruthless efficiency.
"How many are left?" Minako asked quietly, making
herself continue to watch despite the revulsion she
felt at the slaughter. This was a sacrifice Hotaru was
making, letting her body be used by a ruthless killing
machine and some part of Minako felt that someone
should at least respect that, honor it.
"That's the last of them," Usagi sounded proud,
"nearly a thousand soldiers and support, eliminated in
a matter of minutes."
‘Eliminated,' Minako fought back her anger, ‘such a
sanitary description for it.'
Nine struck at the enemy's command center, racing past
the guards as if they weren't there. Explosions flared
within the tent and Minako could imagine hand weapons
going off, people fighting to survive afainst the
killing machine. In a moment all was silent, then a
blood splattered Nine emerged from the tent, her
expression as calm as ever.
"Confirm that the enemy force is destroyed," Rei
instructed the tech, "then send Nine the deactivation
command."
"Right," Ami Mizuno answered as she used the spy-eyes
to scan the field. "Confirming enemy force eliminated,
sending signal now," Ami added.
Minako watched the monitor as she waited for Nine's
eyes to clear and Hotaru to re-emerge, but instead
Nine turned and began to advance towards their lines.
"Has the signal been sent?" Minako asked softly.
"Confirmed," Ami sounded more than a little scared.
"What's going on?" Usagi asked, looking at them in
confusion.
"Nine isn't shutting down," Rei explained grimly, "and
when Nine is in charge she'll attack ANYONE within a
certain distance. Other than her handler, of course."
Minako hurried to the tent flap and outside even as
she ordered, "Keep everyone away from her, please!"
The scene outside was pure chaos as men and woman
raced away from the outer defensive lines, abandoning
both equipment and arms to let them get away faster.
Pushing her way through the panicked troops Minako
fought her way forward, yelling at times to make
people get the hell out of her way.
"Oh hell," Minako whimpered as she worked her way into
the open, watching in horror as Nine cut down a medic
and the man she was trying to help.
"Enemy combatants sighted," Nine stepped over the
bodies as she casually advanced, "proceeding with
removal."
"Nine!" Minako called as she ran forward.
"Officer Aino," Nine said flatly, "you shouldn't be
here. This area is unsecured."
"These are our troops," Minako declared, standing in
front of her. Despite being smaller Nine had a
dangerous aura about her, her eyes lifeless and
deadly.
"All soldiers must be eliminated from the field," Nine
said to her coldly, "it is the only path to victory."
"No!" MInako went for the injector in her pocket.
Nine stiffened as the injector struck her neck, the
fluid pumped in with a hiss. "You betray me, too?"
Nine hissed, her weapon arm sweeping across Minako's
torso in a splash of red.
"Never," Minako gurgled, tasting blood in her throat
as they both fell in a tangle of limbs.
Mina?" she heard as blackness swept over her, "MINA!"
It was the sound of weeping that woke her, some
unknown time later. Minako opened her eyes to see a
white ceiling of a hospital room, the soft beeping of
medical monitors in the background. Turning her head a
little she saw Hotaru sitting by the bed, her face
splotchy and red from crying.
"You all right?" Minako managed to ask, her throat
aching and sore.
"Mina," Hotaru practically threw herself at her, "oh
god, I nearly killed you!"
"No, Nine nearly did," Minako managed to get a aching
arm around Hotaru, "it wasn't your fault, love."
"But..." Hotaru looked at her tearfully.
"It's all right," Minako shushed her gently as she
pulled her close.
My name is Minako Aino, and I'm a officer in the
Japanese Self Defense Force. I have blonde hair and
blue eyes, possibly due to a western ancestor, I'm
cheerful and outgoing and love eating spicy foods. I'm
twenty six years old, a Lieutenant and my body is
nearly half cybernetic from injuries in the field,
mostly at the hands of Nine. Who knows, maybe by the
end of the war I'll be as much of a machine as Hotaru
is?
End
Notes: A very odd fusion of Saikano and Sailor Moon. I
blame this on some of the darker Mistress Nine moments
in Sailor Moon, and wondering what it would be like if
a Mistress Nine like character was a weapon for the
good guys.
Back to Crossovers Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction