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Sailor Ranko: Tunnel Vision: Chapter 20, The Streets Of Los Angeles.
by
Rebecca Ann Heineman
Ranma 1/2 and the characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. Based on "Sailor Ranko" by Duncan Zillman and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D. Hammel.
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me upload chapters to FanFiction.net without checking them.
"REPORT: PHASE III COMPLETE. HUMAN CASUALTIES ARE ABOVE PREDICTED AMOUNTS. HUMANS REGROUPING."
"COMMAND: EXECUTE PHASE IV. SECURE ISLAND OF TAIWAN. SECURE LOS ANGELES BASIN. MAINTAIN COMMUNICATION DISRUPTION. MAINTAIN INSTIGATING HUMAN INTER-CONFLICTS."
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The sun was about to set. A gunshot rang out. It was closer this time. Another weapon fired, this time it was a machine gun that kept firing for several seconds before it fell silent again.
Tuxedo Mask jumped to the rooftop and hopped to the next building. He was close now to the people firing the weapons. He felt the presence of a group of people ahead. He approached carefully since he didn't know if they were friendly or hostile.
He heard shouts from over the roof he was on. "Fall back! Johnson, take cover! There! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" A sound of automatic gunfire came from right under the building he was on. The building shook as a jeep smashed through a window directly below him and drove down the street. He saw the jeep dodge the crashed cars that littered the road. The men in the jeep were driving away like a maniac from something.
The sound of electric motors whirring came from where the jeep once was. Tuxedo Mask moved from his perch to look directly below. There he saw three vaguely human shaped T-70 robots. Very crude in design, reddish brown in color with belt fed machine guns mounted on their right arms. They spoke not a word. All three aimed their weapons at the escaping jeep and opened fire. The sound was deafening and Tuxedo Mask held his ears to block out the loud noise.
The jeep turned a corner and escaped. Two of the robots ran to give chase. They went at a pace of a brisk walk and didn't seem to have the ability to jump. They walked around the dead bodies on the sidewalk. He watched the two run off and turn the corner to follow the jeep. He looked down again and saw the remaining robot standing in place turning its head slowly from side to side as if it were searching for something.
Tuxedo Mask slowly crept up the rooftop to avoid this thing. Obviously it was an enemy of the United States military, so it was something to be avoided. Tuxedo Mask jumped several rooftops to try to chase down the jeep. The men in that jeep had some answers. He wanted those answers.
He followed the sound of brakes screeching and a motor's acceleration. He guessed that the jeep was going to turn back and follow a much wider highway that he could see straight ahead. He got into a position to leap into the road and as if on cue, the jeep came around a smashed bus and drove down the six-lane highway below. Tuxedo Mask saw a seat in the back of the jeep that was empty and jumped down into it.
He landed in the seat and held on for dear life. Private Johnson turned to his new traveling companion, "Just who the hell are you?"
"I am..." was all he could utter before his head hit the driver's seat when the jeep skidded to a stop. The driver shifted into reverse while the Corporal in the front passenger seat opened fire with his M-16 at a white rubber skinned man directly in front of them.
"DOWN!!" All three soldiers ducked their heads as a hail of machine gun fire was returned from the white rubber skinned man. The driver held his head down and hit the accelerator. He twitched the steering wheel to evade the gunfire and spun the jeep around. He shifted into second and gunned the engine.
"Johnson, check if LAX is under attack." The Corporal ordered, he turned to Tuxedo Mask and exclaimed, "Say what?" The Corporal was too busy to deal with him. He looked human, so for now he wasn't a threat, right now he was dealing with pasty white mannequins or junkyard rejects.
Private Johnson pulled out his radio mike and called the base. There was a lot of static on the line. There was a lot of radio jamming in the area. The base reported that they are waiting for them and all was quiet.
"Tell them we are coming in and coming in hot. Have them load up for bear."
Johnson repeated the order.
The driver turned another corner hard, he almost lost control since he hit a water puddle from a broken fire hydrant. He regained control and sped straight down another wide street. "Corporal, ETA is LAX in one minute via Century Blvd."
"Johnson, tell Miller we should move out. We're approaching from Century."
Johnson sent the message. He turned to look behind them; it looked like they ditched the robots. He sized up Tuxedo Mask, "Who the hell are you?"
Tuxedo Mask was nursing the bump on his head, "I am Tuxedo Mask, champion of Love and Justice. I protect the Beautiful Sailor Suited Senshi Sailor Moon."
Johnson just stared and pointed his sidearm at him. He wasn't taking any chances. He sighed, "Oh great, the VX gas must have had some serious side effects."
Corporal Gonzalez stared at him as well, he mumbled, "You've got to be kidding me. Is he one too?"
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Sailor Mercury was repairing Sailor Sun's computer system. The antenna needed to be reset to radio frequencies being using on Earth in the current century. They were all set to frequencies used during the moon kingdom. The Scouts were dying to know if the bombing had stopped and if it was safe to return to Earth. Sailor Venus was demanding for Sun to go to Earth and move her family to a safe location.
The question that was on everyone's mind was. Where was it safe? They didn't know if somehow one of the governments on Earth may have found the station and a missile could be on it's way at this very moment. They couldn't beam everyone out in time if that was the case.
Sailor Moon just sat on her knees in a trancelike state. She had been that way for the entire time she had been here. Io, Saturn and Sun were on the lower deck with Io's sister. Pluto was pacing around but she wouldn't talk to anyone.
All the other Senshi were gathered around Mercury hoping for her to get the communication system online. They were all starved for any news from Earth. The monitor flickered and a TV broadcast was being received. Mercury lifted her head and bumped it on the desk. "Ouch!"
Jupiter rushed to Mercury's aid, "Be careful."
"Thanks." Mercury sat at the console and typed in channel codes. "Now, everyone, remember that what we are seeing is delayed by about seven and a half minutes. Speed of light does that you know." She banged a few more keys and got a CNN feed from Las Vegas.
The CNN announcer was in front of the Las Vegas convention center. There were thousands of tents behind him. "There is a nationwide fallout alert. Please, do not go outside unless absolutely necessary and limit any exposure to outside dust. Take iodide tablets to limit iodide radiation absorption. Do not handle metal objects, they could be exposed to radiation. Here are the cities that have set up refugee centers, Las Vegas Nevada, Cheyenne Wyoming, Boise Idaho, Nashville Tennessee, and Oceanside California."
Hearing the list of city names that had survived the holocaust gave the scouts a sense of hope.
Mercury adjusted the antenna to receive signals from eastern Asia. "Odd, Taiwan is totally silent. I'm not even getting ham radio signals." She turned to Japan. "Now checking Japan." Venus was more impatient for local news, "Mercury, can you tune in NNN24?"
"I'll try, but don't get your hopes up. If Tokyo was hit or the power is out then they won't be broadcasting." Mercury finished her antenna adjustments and got the Japanese islands and set the frequency to channel twenty-four.
NNN24 broadcasted, "Relief efforts are currently underway in the northern Tokyo area and the city of Yokohama. The death toll stands at fifteen million estimated casualties across the nation of Japan. Please avoid the cities of Kyoto and Osaka."
Mercury was overjoyed at the news. The other scouts looked at her as if she had gone insane. "Let me explain, they are transmitting from Tokyo near Juuban. That means my mom is probably ok!"
Venus held back tears of joy, "You mean Juuban is all right?"
Mercury needed to clarify things, "Well it's all right enough for them to be sending a television signal. Now, they might not have power. You see, they could be using a their own generator and hoping people are getting the signal from battery powered televisions or radios. However, there is something very wrong here."
The scouts gave a collective worried expression. Mercury continued, "Every station I can get is only through a direct connection. The satellites seem to be transmitting military orders. All I hear are troop movement and orders to attack people. None of the TV satellites are sending actual TV signals. It's like they are under military control."
Mercury changed her focus, "This means that in about ten hours I'm going to lose the signal to Japan since the Earth will rotate and I won't be able to see Japan anymore. Normally, I can just bounce the signal from satellites so that isn't a problem. So, for now, any signal I get from Earth will have to be during daylight hours."
"Daylight?" Several Scouts turned and looked downward in the direction of where Sailor Sun was. Uranus walked off to fetch her. "I'll get her."
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Sailors Sun, Saturn and Io were talking to Kasumi about their lives as Sailor Senshi. Kasumi was told the whole story of how Akane survived in Solitude and then was given the honor of becoming a Senshi. Sun of course bragged that she was the savior of all mankind and that the Senshi would be nothing without her. Io gave the customary mallet to her head for that last remark. Saturn just enjoyed the company. She really wanted to get to know Sun and Io. She was happy to have more friends.
Uranus came down the stairs into Sun's bedroom on the station, "Break time is over Sun. Time to get to work."
Sun smiled to Kasumi and Io, "See, they need me." She got up and followed Uranus back up the stairs.
Io gave a small hug to her sister, "I've got to go too. My duty calls me."
Kasumi held her hand up with a 'V' for victory sign. She gave a big smile and watched her sister run off to fight for Love and Justice.
Saturn asked, "So, what's Ranko and Akane REALLY like?"
"Ranko? Tee hee." Kasumi giggled.
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Uranus instructed, "We need to see if it's safe for some of us to return to Earth. The news is sketchy so we need you to go on reconnaissance."
Sun was not thrilled about going back to Earth. Her talk with Kasumi allowed her for a moment to forget her losses. Now she fell into a state of depression. She forced herself to remember that her duty to the team came first and stood up straight. "Where shall I go first?"
Mercury jumped in, "Juuban hospital, contact my mother, she is Dr. Mizuno."
Sun may have been ignorant, but she did have some functioning brain cells, "Uh... Mercury, the city was hit with a really big bomb. The hospital is going to be a madhouse."
"That's why I'm going with you!" Mercury then grabbed Sun and held her tight.
Sun closed her eyes and thought about the hospital. She had seen it before so she didn't need a map. "You have no idea what I've seen."
Io got wide eyed, "Sun! Don't!"
Sun didn't want to go. She called out, "Sun Beam Transport!" In an instant Sun and Mercury disappeared.
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Juuban Secondary General Hospital was organized chaos. The entire parking lot was cleared of cars and makeshift tents were erected and thousands of cots were strewn with patients. A small group of men wearing protective clothing and surgical masks had the grim task of carrying away the dead into a waiting trash truck. There was a fine mist of ash falling from the sky. Everyone tried to avoid contact with it, but it got into everything. Numerous police and fireman were sealing off the open slats of the multi-story parking garage a block away to keep the fallout out. The Japanese military were busy moving more cots into the parking garage.
At the front steps to the hospital, two Sailor Senshi beamed in. Mercury felt a little dizzy. Sun held her up, "Don't worry, you'll feel fine in a minute, let's go."
In seconds one hundred people surrounded the two Senshi. They all started begging for the Senshi to help them find loved ones, for food, for shelter or a free ride to the undamaged mountain regions. Mercury was overwhelmed by the attention but Sun pushed the people aside in a very unladylike fashion and led Mercury into the hospital.
The lobby was guarded by the military, there were some VIP's that were getting special treatment inside the hospital and since the country was on full military alert, the hospital was locked down. Sun demanded that they be let in. The guards at first refused, but when Sun invoked her Senshi magic, which caused her eyes to change from blue to black with flames for pupils, the guards backed off.
Mercury was starting to think coming to Earth was a really stupid idea. As before, once they were in the lobby, a crowd demanding that they heal them or somehow magically make everything normal again mobbed them. Sun once again just shoved past everyone with Mercury in tow and dragged her to a utility closet and shut the door.
Sun held the door shut. "O.K. Genius, how are you going to get any privacy with your mother? Do you want to tell the whole world your true name?" Sun was not happy about the situation they were in.
"I just wanted to find out things were really like here." She dropped her head down. "I think I already know now."
"I've been blown up by an atom bomb! I have a tiny clue what sort of hellhole this place has become! Why did you have me bring you here? If anything I should have brought Saturn and have her start healing people!" Sun was angry, she held her head with her hand and massaged her forehead.
Mercury shrank at Sun's outburst. "I... I thought things were not so bad."
"Not so bad! What! I thought of all people, you would be the smart one! You saw Yokohama blow up from your own bedroom window. Don't you understand what happened! I was only about ten kilometers away from a really big blast and I saw my..." Sun grimaced at the thought. She punched the door leaving a fist-sized hole in it. She choked a tear.
"I didn't know." Mercury slid down and sat on the floor.
Sun took a deep breath and counted to three. "We've got a job to do. Do you still need to see your mother?"
Mercury looked at the ground, "I want to see her."
"Where would she be?"
"She usually works on the third floor, but now. I have no idea."
Sun gave it a thought. "Stay here. Don't go anywhere understand? Keep the door shut." Outside the closet, people were knocking and trying to get in to have an audience with the Senshi.
Mercury nodded. She felt like she didn't really want to be on Earth right now.
Sun opened the closet door, shoved people aside and closed it. Mercury moved to the door and sat behind it to keep it shut. Sun found a soldier and dragged him to the closet. She bowed and asked the soldier to keep guard. The guard made a small bow back and stood guard. He had seen the Senshi in action and had the deepest respect for what they could do.
Sun marched to the lobby, asked for Dr. Mizuno, was directed to the fourth floor and found her in intensive care. She was in the nurse's station barely able to stand. She was suffering from exhaustion. Sun went up to Dr. Mizuno and asked if that was her name. She was a little taken by the question since she had met Sun at Ami's house several times. "Yes, I am Dr. Mizuno."
Sun turned to the nurse next to Dr. Mizuno, "I need to borrow her for a few minutes." Sun grabbed the doctor and flashed out. The nurses just dropped their jaws at what they had just seen.
In Ami's bedroom Sun and Dr. Mizuno appeared. Dr. Mizuno was a little dizzy so Sun gently put her on Ami's bed. She then flashed out and in about fifteen seconds returned with Sailor Mercury.
Mercury didn't notice where she was, "Sun! Don't grab me like that!" Sun held Mercury's head and turned it to face her mother. Mercury gave a look of pure joy and leapt on top of her. Sun said to them, "I'll leave you two alone for ten minutes." She flashed back to the space station.
Mercury hugged her mother with a chest crushing hold. Her mother returned the favor in kind. "Mom, I was so worried about you." She cried a tear of joy.
Her mother hugged her super hero daughter and told her what she knew.
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Sun appeared back at the space station and gave the other Senshi the news of what she saw. She told them that Mercury's mother is fine but the hospital was full of dying people.
Sailor Saturn came forward, "Do they need my help?" She felt like she could heal the world.
"You don't want to go, trust me." Sun tried to talk her out of it, going into detail about the mob of people that she was going to have to deal with. Saturn was adamant, she wanted to help, even if it only a handful of people. The recovery of Kasumi gave her a new purpose, a purpose she wanted to fulfill. Sun once again tried to talk her out of it. "You have no idea what it is like down there. Kasumi was just you and she. We are talking thousands of people."
Saturn felt dejected. She so badly wanted to help. Sun had an idea. "Neptune or Uranus can you come to Earth with Saturn to help her?"
The two parents shot glances at each other. Neptune took a step forward to Saturn. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
Saturn was unsure, but she nodded anyways.
"Neptune, you go first." Sun grabbed Neptune and a moment later they were in a supply closet. "Take a look around. I'll be back in a few minutes. If you say it's ok. I'll get Saturn." Sun flashed out to Ami's place.
Neptune stepped out of the closet and went to the lobby of the hospital. The soldier wondered how many Senshi were in there.
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Sun appeared in front of Mercury. "Time's up."
Sailor Mercury didn't want to go. Her mother told her, "I've got patients to look after." Mercury made a weak smile to her mother and gave her another hug. She slowly let go. Sun held her and took her back to the station. She then came back and got Dr. Mizuno and dropped her off at the nurse's station among the crowd of nurses that had collected there. Sun bowed to them and took the elevator to the first floor. She was tuckered out and need a break from teleportation.
Finding Neptune was easy; she just followed the crowd of screaming people calling out Neptune's name. She pushed into the crowd and got to Neptune, "Still want to go through with this?"
Neptune nodded yes. Sun told her, "O.K. Call me on the communicator when you are ready to leave." She glanced around. "I think you are going to be very popular." She disappeared, stunning the crowd for only a few seconds. Then they all started to hound Neptune.
At the station Saturn was twiddling her thumbs. She was seriously thinking that maybe going to Earth right now wasn't a very good idea. Sun flashed into the lobby. She came to Saturn, "Your mother is waiting, still want to go?"
Saturn slowly nodded.
Sun gulped, "I hope you are ready my friend." Saturn smiled at the mention of the word 'friend'. Sun gently held Saturn's shoulders and took her directly to Neptune.
"Neptune, call me if you have any problems." Sun let go of Saturn and went back to the station.
The mob surrounded the two Senshi. They both had to push back the crowd. It lasted about three minutes and then the crowd was pushed away. Sailor Uranus came through and took her family towards the elevator to the fourth floor. Sun told her to have Dr. Mizuno direct Saturn to the cases she could help the most with. With both Uranus and Neptune as guards, Saturn could work in peace.
Hours later, after Saturn had healed her thirtieth patient. Uranus told Neptune, "I am so proud of our little girl." She paused a bit, "You know, Sun isn't all that obnoxious. She does have her heart in the right place."
Neptune smiled, "Her wife is still violent though."
Uranus smiled back, "If there is hope for Sun, there's hope for Io."
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The jeep was doing about 80 KPH when it entered the LAX entryway. They had to rapidly slow down to avoid the stopped busses that blocked the on ramp to the arrivals terminal. In front of the International terminal sat several marine corp. trucks and thirty soldiers with a make shift command post. They skidded to a halt about ten meters from the base. The Corporal barked out, "Take him."
Johnson jumped out of the jeep and aimed his handgun at Tuxedo Mask. "Hands on your head!" Johnson gestured to another soldier to get some handcuffs. Richardson came and cuffed Tuxedo Mask and they escorted him to the back of the nearest truck and cuffed him to the seat.
Corporal Gonzalez went to Sergeant Miller. Miller asked for the report. "You aren't going to believe this, but there are robots of some kind and they're armed. We saw two kinds, ones that are slow and large, others are man sized and look like store mannequins. Both kinds shot at us on sight. We lost Phillips to one of the mannequins."
Miller asked Johnson if this was what happened, "Those things are real. They are coming, and we should bug out."
Miller had seen enough stuff happen in the last twenty-four hours that he was ready to believe that Santa Claus was going to stop by. "All right, let's group with Black Ops. They're at the Seal Beach armory. Move out!"
All the men grabbed their gear and started loading the trucks. A sound came from over terminal three and was getting louder. It had an electric motor tinge to it and it was flying. Miller was ready for it. "That's no helicopter. I think we've got company. Men take positions."
The men took positions behind vehicles or concrete trashcans as cover. Tuxedo Mask saw the commotion and started to wiggle his way free from the handcuffs.
A silver hovercraft with twin electric turbofans flew over the terminal building and began firing its machine gun that was mounted on its undercarriage. Henderson yelled, "What the hell is that?!" Two soldiers fell and the rest opened fire.
The left turbofan was damaged and shut down. The craft immediately fell into the terminal building and exploded. The fuel made an impressive fireball. Miller was convinced that sticking around was suicide, "Let's get the hell out of here!"
All the men quickly threw the rest of their gear into the trucks and drove in procession towards Century Blvd. Johnson told the lead driver, take Sepulveda to the 105, they'll be coming up Century." Johnson remembered the three reddish brown robots and didn't want to see them again. The trucks drove under the airport runway in the Sepulveda tunnel and got on the eastbound 105 freeway.
Tuxedo Mask finally worked his way out of the cuffs using his enhanced Senshi strength. He kept his hands behind himself to not attract attention.
They drove for eleven minutes before the machines found them. Two of the reddish brown T-70 robots were on a freeway overpass and were waiting in ambush. They stood up as soon as the procession was in range. The lead driver was killed instantly and the truck went out of control and slammed into the center divider. The other trucks were able to stop and the men piled out and took cover.
Henderson jumped down and opened a box of LAW rockets. Took one and threw it out the side of the truck. He took a second one and pulled it open into firing position. He leapt out of the truck, aimed and fired at the nearest robot, and then dove under the truck.
The robot couldn't move out of the way in time and was blasted into a hundred pieces. Its companion turned its weapon on Henderson's position and resumed firing. A second later a rose was shoved into the bullet feed mechanism and jammed the belt fed machine gun. The robot lifted its gun arm to clear the gun's action when the soldiers jumped out and returned fire.
The machine shook a little at the massive amount of bullets it was taking and the main breastplate shattered. The internals were exposed and a second later sparks came out and the T-70 fell over.
Henderson was ready with the second LAW rocket. He didn't fire it since the robot had gone down. He scanned the area for another guest. Miller waved some men to go to the lead truck to look for survivors.
Henderson yelled, "We got another one!" He fired his LAW rocket at a third T-70 who just walked into sight on the bridge. The robot took aim at the person who threw the flower and managed to squeeze off a few rounds before it was blown to bits.
Tuxedo Mask took the bullets in the chest and fell over. He didn't think to take cover after throwing his rose. He gasped and held his wounds. Corporal Gonzalez rushed to his aid. "You got hit pretty bad." He pulled off Tuxedo Mask's top hat and attempted to unbutton his tuxedo. He noticed the clothes had no buttons. In fact, there were no snaps or any way to remove his shirt without ripping it off.
Tuxedo Mask transformed into Mamoru. "This should help."
Gonzalez stared wide eyed, "You really are one of those magical people aren't you?" He took a piece of Mamoru's shirt and ripped it to make a bandage.
"Not magical enough I'm afraid." He was losing consciousness.
"Damn it! MEDIC! I'm losing this one!" He examined the three bullet holes. It looked really bad. The bullets were explosive tipped rounds designed for anti-personnel use. "Stay with me!" He began to massage his heart but stopped when he noticed it caused the bleeding to get worse.
"Tell Sailor Moon, I love her."
"Don't you do this to me! Damn you!" Gonzalez wanted to ask this guy some questions, not pass a love letter to his girlfriend. He slapped him to keep him awake. "I need a medic here NOW!"
Mamoru closed his eyes and went still.
"Ah Jesus!" Gonzalez was furious. He slapped Mamoru again and tried to massage his heart. The medic came and took one look at Mamoru and just shook his head and ran off to another fallen soldier.
He sat back and looked at his bloodstained hands. He then looked at Mamoru. He was connected to those girls that he had met in the desert somehow. There was no way to explain the clothes transformation and the fact that this guy took out a machine gun with a rose. He searched the body for anything that would help explain who he really was. He found a wallet, some japanese money and a strange looking calculator. He pocketed everything he could find and then went to assist the other men.
This was going to be a long night.
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and keeps me from making that bump in the night sound you hear at midnight.
Last edited on October 14, 2002