Ignition: Five Touga Kiryuu got the message almost as soon as the two men arrived in the city, rushing to the hospital as soon as he could. The redheaded man drove dangerously, his sleek sports car cutting through the traffic like a hot knife through butter, but with an almost unearthly skill. "I'd really like to get there alive," Saionji remarked, holding on to the dashboard with a white knuckled grip. The green haired swordsman sounded light hearted but his handsome face was almost as grim as Touga's was. "Oh ye of little faith," Touga shot back as they came around a corner. A few moments later they came to a stop, Touga vaulting out of the car as he asked, "Which ward?" "C ward," Saionji followed him in, watching with some amusement as Touga smoothly charmed a nurse for directions. 'Wonder what she'd do if she discovered he was really nearly 60 years old?' he wondered. The group of familiar figures stood in front of the glass window, faces that they hadn't seen in a long time. Asrisugawa Juri looked coldly angry, her eyes glittering as she paced, her orange hair falling around her shoulders. Miki Kaoru had a gently sorrowful look on his face, the blue haired young man looking regretfully through the glass wall. His wife Nanami stood beside him, a comforting hand on his shoulder while the brash blonde gazed regretfully at the focus of the whole room. "How is she?" Touga asked, slowing a little as he walked over to their side. "She's slipped into a coma," Nanami answered, Touga's little sister giving him a sad smile, "they don't think she's going to make it." "God," Saionji ran a hand through his hair roughly, the katana he usually wore slung over his shoulders. Grimly he asked, "What happened to her?" "Attempted murder," Juri sounded furious as she continued, "her own employers shot her for trying to prove they were engaged in criminal actions." Touga cursed softly, his eyes narrowing. "Where's Utena?" he asked, knowing that the intense young woman had to be here somewhere. "In there," Miki nodded to Keiko's room. Looking inside Touga saw that Utena was bent over the older woman, her hands carefully resting on Keiko's shoulders. There was an aura of power radiating around her, the ordinarily dressed pink haired young woman seemingly coexisting with the image of a nobly dressed prince. Light and strangely the scent of roses even reached the outer room they waited in, then faded away as Utena slumped forward, clearly exhausted. The brown haired young lady who was Keiko's lover, May spoke softly to Utena, then Anthy helped Utena leave the room. The dusky haired woman pushed the door open while bearing much of the other woman's weight herself. Saionji saw them stumble and leapt forward to help, getting her over to a nearby chair. "What happened?" Nanami asked, her eyes filled with worry for her old friend. "It won't work," Utena looked up, eyes filled with grief, "I called upon the Power of Dios again and again to save her, but..." "Utena," Anthy held her lover close, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. "I remember that Keiko once told me she didn't want to be immortal," Juri finally said into the silence, "it could be she's resisting Utena's attempts to save her." Miki shook his head no, while Nanami closed her eyes in pain and regret. Touga looked grim, remembering their shared past, while Saionji had a more gently regretful look on his face. Both Utena and Anthy looked weary, body and soul, as they sat nearby each other there in the white, sterile hospital room "Who did this?" Touga finally asked, his eyes narrowed in anger. Saionji nodded, "And what can we do to help?" Juri gave them the shadow of her usual smile, "I think we're going to have to talk about it, but not here." She left them a moment to talk to May in Keiko's room then returned to their sides, "May is staying here with Keiko, she'll call if anything changes." "And where are we going?" Miki asked her as they left, still tossing anxious glances back towards Keiko's room. "The one place I know where we can talk that's completely secure," Juri answered them all, "Arisugawa's Locket." The neon light above the door was out, for the first time in a long time the bar was closed for the evening. Juri led them inside, Miki, Saionji and Touga looking around them bemusedly at the strange surroundings. Inside much of the staff of the bar waited, like they had for most of the day for news of what happened to their friend. "Juri," Setsuna Meiou stepped forward to hug her lover gently, the black haired woman looking at Juri's face worriedly. "Keiko's still alive," Juri answered softly. Minagi looked grim, the former space pirate dressed for battle in a simple one piece body-suit, her long blue hair flowing down her back. Tsunami stood beside her lover, her own expression grave. Cyber Six paced restlessly, her long black cloak swirling, black hair falling into her eyes. Nabiki Tendo sat at one of the tables, a shot of whisky in front of the older woman, her eyes haunted. Up at the bar Mahoro was taking apart and cleaning her pistol, from the look on the black haired woman's face she intended to be using it soon. "I asked the other Sailor Senshi to be here," Setsuna added as she nodded to where the other young women stood, "most of us know Keiko and it seems we're involved anyway." There was a knock on the door and Sylia Stingray entered boldly, her long silver hair flowing neatly down her back. The tawny haired goddess Mara followed her in, her eyes grave as she said, "I'm sorry about your friend, Juri, but I'm not sure why you called us in." "I asked you to be called," Minako Aino, the beautiful blonde who was also known as Sailor Venus answered, "you're involved in this, too." Juri took a breath before anyone started asking more questions. "Keiko was shot last night investigating her employers at Bioware," she said crisply, "trying to find out how they had illegally acquired data from their primary business rival, Re-genex." "Both of which are boomer developers," Sylia looked grim. "It gets worse," Juri nodded to Minako. Minako Aino rose, her blonde hair almost a golden cape as she said, "I was investigating this situation from another end, corporate espionage, when I broke into Bioware. Accessing the computers I downloaded data on the robberies as well as a plan set up between various companies involving something called Ayanami." There was the oddest look on Sylia's face at the mention of that name, Mara looking at her lover worriedly. "You know something," she prompted Sylia. "My father's legacy coming back to bite us on the ass once again," Sylia said bleakly. She took a steadying breath, "Most of you know my father used my DNA in creating the boomer prototypes, but what is largely unknown is that there was a second DNA source involved." "Rei Ayanami," Haruka Tenoh got it almost instantly, the sandy haired boyish young woman standing with her lover Michiru. "So they have something planned using Ayanami's DNA?" Miki asked. "They want to create a second Galatea," Sylia looked furious as she growled, "using Ayanami as the template this time, probably to use the Boomers in the city as part of a larger scheme." "Then we have to stop them," Usagi Tsukino said simply, the blonde haired princess of the Moon Kingdom meeting their eyes with determination. "It's too late for that," Minako sighed, "from the data I recovered Project Ayanami was already complete. We have to stop the next step." There was a loud click as Mahoro finished reassembling her pistol. "And what is the next step?" she asked them crisply. "The corporate mercenaries," Sylia said, "we know that they're coming into the city in force, they must be part of the takeover scheme." "We need to get the AD Police involved, too," Ami Mizuno agreed, "even with everyone in this room we can't deal with this on our own." The phone rang and Juri moved aside, listening intently. A few moments later she slipped it away into her pocket, her voice raspy as she said, "Keiko slipped away a few minutes ago, she never woke up from the coma."
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