Sailor Pluto considered that, glancing back at the scene at Jusenkyo and noting the various scanning equipment and recording devices that AEGIS had in place.
She? She? Which 'she' was Count More Pretentious Then Thee talking about, anyhow - 'Ranko' or Hotaru?
She rubbed her eyes, sighing. Oh, well, and things had been going so well too...
"Oh, Saotome Ranma, Saotome Ranma, let me count the ways..."
Pluto sighed, then. What the hell. She had better things to worry about then a plan that had gone south already, that was for sure... On to the next!
Though - hmmm. That conversation with Count What's Your Name Now had been sort of...interesting.
"Your arrogance has made it easy. Senshi are just as corruptible as a Gatekeeper, both can be turned to darkness after all. It just requires a little push here and there. "
How very strange - this obsession with 'corruption' and 'turning to darkness'. Oh, and 'arrogance', too - OK, now - Pluto closed her eyes, concentrating. Blast, that was a long time ago, but - hmmm. The "I Am A Proper Big Bad And I Do My Own Undercover Work!" Count Whatever that she'd known passingly in the old Moon Court had been pretty darn good at passing himself off as just another eccentric old high-magic noble, true, but now that she thought about it -
Oh, hooo. So.
And wasn't that like the various and sundry other obsessions the various Big Bads had... Like a certain Neherenia in a certain timeline who'd believed that without her beauty, she was worth nothing, nothing at all, or maybe a certain Galaxia in yet another timeline who'd broken stars ranting that comradeship and friendship were worth nothing and you could depend on nobody but yourself, or -
And just what were you before you became what you are now, eh?
But time enough for that for later. For now - hmmmm.
OK, OK...
Now. About a certain, shall we say, PR problem...
Uranus choked on her can of tea. Neptune didn't quite do anything so unladylike, but she did come close. Both Senshi's eyes were glued to the big, big TV screen on the building across them.
"Wha. Wha. ...What?"
(For a moment or so a great light blazed forth and everyone present could see that this WAS a mortally wounded Lightwings. A brief glittering image of a key-shaped staff, a shadowy image of someone with long hair in a seifuku, and then they could all see the life and light fading away. And then -
"My plans working to perfection," said an amused voice. I have to admit that I never thought things would work out so well. This was all televised," said the dark sinister figure, as the vague sailor-suit figure with the Key turned in alarm. "They'll ask those whose abilities include information gathering and they'll believe that the vision was correct - that a Sailor Senshi was responsible for the death of their beloved Lightwings."
"What! You fiend! I was trying to save his life, Invader Scum!" The vague figure with the Key snarled.
"I've manipulated both sides here. Senshi are just as much our foe as a Gatekeeper, both fight to defend this world after all. It was easy to get both sides to distrust each other -It just requires a little push here and there. And now the Gatekeepers and the Senshi will use up all their powers fighting each other - ahh, the pickings will be good indeed!"
"As if we Senshi, or the Gatekeepers, or anybody who fights for this world would ever let anything like that happen! - we will protect this world, no matter what! Dead Scream!!"
The menacing figure melted with a low chuckle, while the figure with the Key collapsed with an exhausted sigh...
"Oh, Lightwings, to think that such a valiant warrior as you is gone...")
Usagi hiccuped, a cookie falling from her fingers. The rest of her friends were all frozen like statures, staring and staring at the TV screen.
"Wha." Rei muttered. "What. WHAT?"
And in her control room - Pluto chuckled.
Hiya, Count 'I Really, Really, Really Can't Stop Myself From Gloating Like A Third Rate Villian' - how'd you like that, eh?
Well - maybe that last part had been overdoing things a bit, buuut...
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(Posted Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:19)
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