1/1PM Safety Brief (inner senshi/Luna/Lucan)

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi shuffled into the conference a whole five minutes early, thanks to Hikari's adept abilities at scheduling. It certainly wasn't any effort on her part that got her there on time. Once again she found herself wishing she could wear sunglasses indoors. Her hangover was still going strong, even past noon, and she moved slowly, keeping her head lowered as her skull pounded away at her, though eating lightly throughout the day had taken some of the edge off.

"Yes, I know I'm five minutes early. No, witty remarks are not needed," she grunted to whatever audience there might be, heading over and queuing up her first part of the 'presentation.' Might as well get the worst out of the way first, it wasn't like Luna was going to tell the senshi for her-- though Usagi was going to need the moral support. This probably wasn't going to be received well. Swiping a Gatorade for herself, she plopped down in a chair near the head of the table, groaning and resting her head on her folded arms. "I am never drinking again."

[Aino Minako]

"That's a complete and utter lie," Minako called out as she stepped into the room. She had managed her slight headache that morning with some ibuprofen and was no longer feeling any effects from the party the night before, with the exception of sore feet from too much dancing. The smile plastered on her face was a clear indication that she'd had more than a fabulous time the night before, and she glided into the room almost convinced she really was walking on air. "By tomorrow you'll forgot all about your hangover and be ready to lift your glass for some other reason, whether you want to or not. I think you'll be stuck with the parties for a long time, if my knowledge of Crystal Tokyo's fate is accurate."

"Hello Lucan," Minako greeted the head of security as she found herself a chair next to Usagi. She was sure that much of what he was planning to say she already knew, but there wasn't any harm in learning it twice. "What fun and excitement do you have planned for us today?"

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami raised an eyebrow when she entered the room to find that Usagi and Minako were already there. "You should have drunk more water, Usa-chan. Hangovers are largely the result of dehydration." She could not help but grin as she took a seat at the table, and saw Minako's disposition seemed to be rather sunny. "Morning, everyone."

Ami had only gotten slightly "buzzed" during the party, so she had not had any difficulties with waking up. After having read the reports from the hospital, she had curled up on her couch and spent the morning watching Heart Roots. That did not mean that she did not have sympathy for those of her sisters who were experiencing the less than pleasant after effects of the party.

She wrinkled her nose slightly at Minako's question. "Honestly, after the revelation of all the suitors last night, I'll make your job a bit easier, Lucan. Just as long as I can do my work at the hospital, then I'll agree."

[Hino Rei]

"Sorry I'm late," Were the first words out of Rei's mouth, even though she technically wasn't. Her watch was running five minutes fast, however, and she had always been of the mind that 'on time' was lagging--much like Lucan, though neither knew it.

It was clear that she was wide awake and alert, however, unlike most of the others and Rei slipped into a chair near the end of the table with her usual grace. A second later she'd gotten up again to retrieve a bottle of water. Rei uncapped it as she retook her seat and glanced about. "or.. not. Hm."

[Kino Makoto]

Makoto quietly slipped in at 1 PM on the dot and chose an empty seat at the back. Her spirits were bright, but she still had a nagging headache…lingering effects from the alcohol she’d consumed the evening before, among other things.

Glancing around, she realized she was the last to arrive. Fan-freaking-tastic. She offered an embarrassed smile. “Sorry I’m late. Just…lost track of time.”

[Luna]

Luna padded in right on Makoto’s heels. She was a lot later then she had intended to be, but it was hard navigating the halls when you were a small black cat. Besides, she had been napping on a windowsill on the other side of the palace, still tired out from the festivities the evening before.

She ducked her head slightly and murmured, “Sorry I’m late ...” Luna quickly darted over to a chair near to where Usagi was sitting, wanting to be able to give support when Usagi told the senshi everything that she was suppose to tell them today.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

Usagi let out another groan, not bothering to look up from where she had buried her head when Minako entered. "It is not a lie," she grunted. "Lots of dignitaries go without drinking, I'm sure. I'll just convert to a religion that doesn't allow drinking and they won't serve me at parties. Never, never, never... Ughhh..." She did manage to look up long enough to sigh at Ami's advice. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, thank you Dr. Mizuno. If I had a credit for everytime I've heard that this morning..."

She just waved her hand as Rei entered, not really caring who was late, and did the same for Makoto. Luna entered last, surprisingly, and Usagi ran a thankful hand over her soft fur, standing up and making her way to the front of the room. "Yup, this meeting is officially called to order! Thank you Lucan. And like Luna told you the day before yesterday, you really can call me Usagi in front of the senshi... They're not going to think you any less professional. Right, guys?"

Sighing, she moved on with visible reluctance. "So. The other day, I was talking with Luna and Lucan and something came out and I realized I hadn't told you guys like I should have. At the time, I wasn't sure it would be safe to tell-- and after that-- I got busy enough to forget. But Luna pointed out that you should know, and she's right. So, I've created this handy little presentation to... tell you what happened. Because with this hangover I'm having trouble stringing coherent sentences together." Usagi just hoped Rei wasn't going to yell at her-- she wasn't sure her headache could tolerate that. "This call that you're about to hear is from legacy SIGINT records, and you can see the software frontend interface of when they picked it up...Yeah... Well... Okay, whatever, you have no idea what I'm talking about. I warned you about the coherence bit. Enjoy the show. Just don't kill me afterwards."

With a sigh, she plopped back down into the chair and clicked the button, pulling up the file, dated in September of 2011, months before the coronation. The interface of the tracking and listening software that Luna had seen yesterday came up. On the bottom right corner was her phone number. Lucan's box appeared blank. As soon as the phone started ringing in the recording, a picture of her popped up, and a satellite photo was zooming in, pixels smoothing out as her location was being triangulated. Lucan's signal bounced about; unable to be pinpointed.

"Felix."

"Uh, hello, Mr. Felix. This is... Tsukino Usagi. Um, I interviewed you, and..."

"Hello, your Majesty. Of course I remember the Queen-elect." A woman's voice murmurs in the background. "Go back to sleep, Felicia. I just have to take this call. Just a moment, please." There was rustling, and then finally Lucan came back on. "Alright, I can talk now."

"Is that your fiancé? Mac mentioned her."

"So I heard. How can I help you?"

"Well, I know it's kind of early over there, and you were obviously asleep, and this is a really dumb question, but you said if I ever had any questions to call, and you gave me that good talk about security, and I just have... a question."

"The only dumb question is the one not asked. Is this line secure? It's sounds like you're outdoors."

"Um, well... I'm sort of outside, calling from my cell..."

"Your cellular phone is anything but secure. But, I suppose that can't be helped now. What's your question?"

"Well, I thought I had a flat so I pulled over to the side of the road, and I was getting out the car jack, and then I noticed this thing that's stuck to the underside of the car--"

"Run."

"I'm sorry?"

"Run away from the car."

"But I haven't even finished telling you about it yet! I think it's a practical joke, because it looks like a big block of cake icing held up by a magnet, and it smells like marzipan, too. So I figured I'd call you because it could be poisoned or something, right?"

"Run now."

"--Like Halloween candy. But someone's probably just having a laugh at my expense. I should have called Mako-chan, she knows all about icing and cakes and yummy stuff. She's the best cook I know, and you should try her food sometime when you're back in Tokyo! Here, maybe I had better pull this off and have a better look--"

"DON'T TOUCH IT!!"

"Okay, okay! I won't. So, my question is... do you know what it is?"

"Sounds like a kilo of C4 used in an UVIED. Now, RUN."

"A what?"

"A bomb. Now just run!"

"Oh my God! For real?! You're not kidding?! OK, you gotta tell me how to diffuse it or something!"

"This is not a movie, that's a real--"

"--because, this is my car, and I need it to get back home, but you say it could be a bomb--"

"TSUKINO USAGI!! Get the fuck out of there! Run as fast and as hard and as far away from your vehicle as possible, right the fuck now! Run for your life! Go, go, go, go, GO!"

"I'm going!!" Usagi winced as she heard this bit again, remembering that she didn't really run, not at first, more like swiftly walked away, not taking him entirely seriously at the time. She had eventually broke out into a run and glanced around her. She remembered feeling self-conscious at the time, ridiculous for just sprinting down a strip of overpass. Until, of course...

"You can't outrun a blast, you need to be out of the area before it goes off! Get at least a hundred meters away and then find cover! Don't argue, just do it--"

There was a sudden rushing of wind and the sound of shattered glass, a deep boom and shrieks came over the line. There were screaming, screeching brakes, car doors slamming.

"Your majesty?! Are you there? Can you hear me?"

"Oh... my God... Oh, God..." It was just as difficult to listen to this the second time around, even after doing it just yesterday with Luna. She could still remember how hot it had been, that it had knocked her down, the wall of debris that was sent flying.

"Are you alright?"

"It just... exploded..."

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm-- well, I... My eyebrows got singed off! I'm shaking, I... Dear God... What about the other people....? I'm about a hundred meters away and I can still feel the heat! There was a fireball. A fireball! It's still burning, everyone's windows are blown out-- oh God, he's going to--" There was a sound of a collision. "Oh, sir... sir?! Are you alright?!"

"Usagi! Focus. Listen to me. Listen to me very carefully. There must have been a lot of shrapnel. Did you get hit in the head?"

"I... no, no I didn't..."

"Can you walk?"

"I... my legs feel weak, but I can..."

"Then keep walking."

"Shouldn't I wait for the ambulances? What about the other people?" Sirens were going in the background, a woman was crying somewhere.

"I know that you want to help those people, and I know you have just witnessed something very frightening, but I need you to take a deep breath and listen very, very carefully to what I am about to tell you. First of all, your flat may not have been an accident. With these types of attacks, there is often a secondary explosion. So you need to immediately evacuate. You need to let these professionals do their jobs, but right now the best thing you can do is to get out of way, especially if there are more traffic accidents."

"I see..."

"Now I'm sorry I had to swear at you, but you weren't exactly listening to me, Your Majesty..."

"No! Don't be sorry, thank God you swore then because another second-- God, I almost died!"

"Take a deep breath. You have to remain calm."

"Please, stay with me, I don't know what to do!" It was rather unsettling to listen to this phone call again, Usagi could hear herself crying.

"Listen to me, I am right here with you, and I am not going to leave you. Try to remain calm and focus on what I'm saying. Do you know where you are?"

"Yes... I'm--"

"Well wherever you are, don't tell me over the phone! Every signals intelligence agency in the Northern Hemisphere is listening in on this phone call."

"I... what?! But... they're not supposed to right now, before we can take over them..."

"Your Majesty, not every organization is going to stop collecting intelligence just because you told them to!"

"Call me Usagi, you just saved my life, after all..."

"Usagi. Do you know where the nearest police station is?"

"I... yes. Yeah, I do."

"Then go there. Make a phone call-- on a landline-- to someone you trust. Don't be alone."

"You think someone might actually come after me again?!"

"Of course they will! Didn't you listen to me during that initial interview?"

"Well, I did, but... Well I figured most of that stuff would be relevant once I was coronated. I mean, I'm not Queen just yet, so I can't be important enough to put all that trouble to kill off. I figured I would worry about all that security stuff once I was actually acting as Queen..."

"So you've been doing government business on your cell phone?"

"Yes..."

"And staying in your apartment alone? Which probably has every square inch wired by now."

"Well, there's Luna, my cat, but yes..."

"And leaving your car overnight in a parking garage?"

"Yes..."

"And not searching it thoroughly before you drive?"

"Yes..."

"My God. Do you have any idea of the danger you're in?!"

"Well considering that I almost got blown up a few minutes ago, I would say I'm starting to get an idea! You say they have my apartment wired?!"

"Oh, it's definitely bugged. I was serious when I said you needed to have it sweeped. You must understand, this is precisely the time when they will strike! This is not the first time they have tried to assasinate you, it's just the first time you've probably noticed! And it won't be the last. The governments of Middle Earth have crumbled, and that has left an immense power vacuum of which you are on the cusp of filling. Every single despot and power player in the entire world is seeing their greatest ambition being taken from them by you. If they can kill you now, before the coronation, they have a chance at ruling the world."

"I... didn't think of it... like that... Fuck..."

"Your location is probably being tracked as we speak." In the background was typing.

"What? How? And what are... what are you doing over there?"

"Your cellular phone is like a homing device. It's easy to triangulate your location based on latency between you and cellular towers. In a place with the urban density of Tokyo, that means a locational precision of meters. And I am now printing my boarding pass." It was still eerie to watch her location tracked on the screen at the same time that Lucan was talking about it.

"And they're tracking me now?! Wait, boarding pass... where are you going?"

"I am going to you."

"What? But I haven't made my hiring decision yet! We're not even at the second round of interviews! Besides, it's the middle of the night for you!"

"That's fine, but until you do make that hiring decision, someone has to take care you. And so what? I'll take a red-eye."

"But... why are you doing this? I haven't done anything for you, I'm not paying you to come to me... You're really going to protect me? God, I can't believe this is happening... I have to call Mamo-chan, find Luna..."

"Don't call anyone else on this phone. In fact, once I hang up, take the battery out and destroy it. Look around for a drop, some water, something to crush it with. You could put whoever else you call in great danger."

"Including you?"

"Including me, but that's alright."

"But... I like my phone! I need it! Can't I just turn it off when I'm not making a call?"

There was a long sigh over the phone. "You can live without your phone, just like you can live without your car! Your cellular phone has what is called a soft power down. The CPU is still active even when turned off, and sometimes even with the battery out there are still processes running. You need to destroy it. Promise me you won't make any more calls from this phone?"

"I promise... But... why are you doing all this for me?"

"As philosophically riveting as that question is, I'd rather discuss it when we're not being monitored. Now, repeat back to me: what are you going to do?"

"Take the battery out of my phone, destroy it, go to a police station, and call someone I trust... on a landline."

"And, make sure you are looked over. You say you're not hurt, but that could be the adrenaline."

"And get looked over. Got it."

"Now I need you to promise me that is exactly what you will do, no deviations, no getting distracted by shiny things, or food, or you think you might be able to solve such and such problem because you saw it in a movie... Do everything as I've told you, without changes, and you'll be alright."

"I promise! No changes, no distractions..."

"I should be in Tokyo around 2300 hours. I will contact you then."

"Lucan, than--"

"Don't thank me. Just get off this phone, it's too dangerous."

The recording clicked off, and Usagi nibbled on her lip, looking around nervously. It was a hell of a way to find out, and she had the intense urge to dive under the table rather than face everyone's reactions.

[Aino Minako]

Halfway through the video, Minako wanted to reach over and pull Usagi into her arms and never let her go. To think her queen, her FRIEND, had come so close to dying and she wasn't even there to help? She wasn't even there to know? Her eyes were riveted to screen, even if the picture was grainy. The audio was chilling, and horrible, and she felt tears welling in her eyes. Lucan had told her that their lives were always in danger, usually they just never knew. He'd told her they'd all need to be careful, that those who wanted to kill them would never stop. But to see Usagi live through that horror was almost more than she could bear.

Odd, she thought to herself as the video wound down to Lucan explaining the way cell phones worked to Usagi. Throughout their teenage years they'd been hunted day in and day out by youma and phages and cardigans and droids and just about anything the world of chaos could throw at them. And they had died - once at the D-point in the hands of Queen Metalia's youma and again while facing Galaxia. But dead-by-youma seemed so much different that death-by-human. The latter seemed far more horrible, that one of your own could come after you with such wickedness. At least monsters were expected to be evil.

"Usagi-chan," Minako said softly, turned to her once the film ended. "Why didn't you tell us?"

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami blinked, grimacing at different parts of the tape. She could not imagine why Usa hadn't told them what had happened, had they grown that far apart even then that she did not think to mention that her car had exploded! She vaguely remembered when they had to start using the communicators to call her, and even when Lucan had taken over - unofficially - her security, but it was unfathomable to her that she had not told them.

"We used to save the world... to be able to protect ourselves, and even more importantly, each other. And while I can accept that maybe we need different tactics against bullets and c4..." Ami sighed, "What happened to us? We're strongest together - always have been."

She looked at Usagi, no accusation in her expression, but hurt and confusion. "I don't understand how that could have happened and we not know... We have to take care of each other. You can't try to protect us from these kinds of things."

[Hino Rei]

Rei remained silent through the entirety of the recording, but her lips slowly pursed and jaw clenched. She glanced only once at Usagi, and then back to the table as the record played. The concern and fear she felt for her friend were tempered by the undeniable fact that this event had already happened and that Lucan's careful hands were now taking care of the Queen's security...

but that same thought created an irrational surge of jealousy and hurt.

That was their job. Lucan was doing their duty. She didn't remember having inducted another Sailor Senshi, and the very idea that Usagi hadn't even bothered to inform them of this for quite some time... Rei stared holes into the wood, fighting the urge to burn holes into the surface of it. She listened quietly as Ami said what she wanted to (though in much kinder terms) and kept her mouth carefully shut.

[Kino Makoto]

Not completely sure what to expect after Usagi’s introduction, Makoto made sure to pay the utmost attention to whatever was about to be revealed. Her mouth gaped as she listened to the recording with the others. Her face paled over what had happened, and then quickly reddened in anger over the fact that none of them had been told. The anger within her only continued to boil as the room fell silent. Her mind reeled with questions as Minako spoke up. Yes, why HADN’T Usagi shared this information?

Ami’s words echoed her own thoughts, although in a much milder fashion. Sure, there were now threats that their powers couldn’t necessarily handle…but that was NO excuse to be excluded from anything involving their Queen’s safety.

Makoto glanced over to Rei for a moment, hoping that her fiery sister would speak up as well. Instead she remained silent, which only egged her on further. Now was not the time for sugar coating things. She slammed her fist down on the table as she stood to face the rest of the room.

“What the hell, Usagi? Really! How could you keep something like this from us? No offense to you, Lucan, but Usagi, WE are supposed to be your security, WE are your protection. We have done nothing but stand by you from the moment we met you, yet you’ve been leaving us out of the loop for who knows how long now. We are your SENSHI, Usagi! We are your guards! And WE are the ones accused of falling apart as a team? It’s YOU who has pushed us away!! You’ve taken on all these duties, all this security detail, and not ONCE have you stopped to ask us for anything, whether it be our opinion, our help, or just our support. It wasn’t until we had to force it upon you that you finally gave in!”

Her hair began to stand on end, static electricity building within her. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, hoping to control it before she wound up blowing a light bulb or something. Her voice lowered, her eyes narrowed at Usagi. “I don’t care what you think or thought is or was best for us. It’s not your job to be protecting us from all this. It’s OUR job to protect YOU. And YOU need to start letting us do that.”

[Luna]

Luna cringed as she listened to the recording once more. She flicked her ears uneasily at the sound of the explosion, but she kept her gaze firmly fixed upon the senshi. She wanted to judge their reactions to what they were seeing and hearing.

She knew that they would be upset, how could they not be? Usagi had been in extreme danger at the time and not one of them had known about it. At the very least she was expecting them to be angry for not having been told.

Luna caught Minako’s tears and the hurt and confusion in Ami’s expression as she spoke up. She was a little surprised that the most temperamental of the senshi remained so silent. She jumped slightly when Makoto slammed her fists into the table and stood to make her tirade, a little startled at the sudden outburst. She had expected Rei to be the most vocal, though with the way she was glaring at the table Luna figured a lot of the same thoughts were in the fiery senshi’s mind as well.

She reached over and laid a paw on Usagi’s knee, offering support. However, she remained silent. This was Usagi’s battle and Luna wouldn’t interfere. She had told Usagi that it would be up to her to confront the senshi on this and she had meant it. Luna was here to support Usagi, but she refused to diffuse this situation unless it was needed. Her personal opinion was that the senshi had every right to be hurt, angry, and confused. Usagi had been keeping them away from what they had been born to do.

Luna understood that Usagi hadn’t wanted to force anyone into remaining by her side out of a sense of duty. However, that didn’t take away from the fact that she had been making their decisions for them. She hadn’t allowed them to be a part of the life she had made for herself. It might have been because she had thought it was for the best, but in the end she was still keeping things from her sisters. She was still taking it upon herself to give them a chance to go their own ways when they had never once asked for her to do so.

[Neo Queen Serenity]

It was worse than she had imagined. Usagi winced audibly at their expressions, sliding down in her chair and wanting to just disappear into the floor. She wasn't sure what was worse-- Ami and Minako's hurt, Makoto's righteous anger, or Rei's silence. Probably the silence-- she had no idea what was lurking beneath the surface, but she almost believed that the table would ignite from the fire senshi's gaze.

It would be so tempting to just flee at this moment, everyone was much angrier with her than Luna was, and for good reason. The worst part was, she couldn't argue with Makoto. She was right. Which meant that she was choking on her own guilt and shame as it welled up within, and it sucked.

"I never accused you of falling apart as a team," Usagi began, and then stopped herself. She didn't expect the first thing to come out of her mouth to be so defensive, but it just happened. Hadn't she told Rei just a few days ago that she was right? She had apologized then. It just felt like double jeopardy that she was getting hit with that all over again, in addition to this issue. She didn't even know how to tell them that it wasn't just this. They needed a good explanation, deserved one, but the problem was that she didn't have one. Equally tempting was to just wail and cry and call herself stupid and write it off as Dumb Usagi Strikes Again. But that would be lie, too.

"I wasn't trying to protect you-- well, I was, but not in quite the way you think, and that alone wouldn't have kept me from telling you. You heard it," she started again, gesturing lamely to the screen that was frozen after the recording had finished. "At first I was determined to tell you. I went home determined to tell Luna. Mamoru knew..." Of course he did. She was sure that wouldn't make it any easier, perhaps she would be accused of being a hypocrite, like Luna had, and Luna and the senshi would be correct-- in respect to this incident. She had acknowledged it to Luna.

"But, then things happened so fast, especially when I realized the apartment really was bugged..." she blinked in confusion and glanced down at the paper as Lucan slid the pad in front of her. Her expression changed. How was it that she was about to talk about being spied on, and he said no classified information?!

Usagi broke eye contact with the senshi for just long enough to whip out a pen and scribbled 'spy-- srsly?!' She held it up at an angle so that he could see, and perhaps the senshi could as well-- she was done with hiding things from them. He dipped his chin slightly as he headed out the door, and she mouthed 'you're kidding!' as he went outside and shut the door behind him.

Setting the pad of paper down, Usagi slid down in her chair again, crossing her arms as her jaw worked silently. If they were really being spied on, and she was about to talk about be spied on... It made all of those feelings return.

"Oh, fuck it," she swore, using vocabulary that was atypical for her in the heat of the moment, sitting up straight again. Let whoever was listening, listen. "Anyway... It became very obvious very fast that... that people were listening. It wasn't just on me, either, it was for my staff... Before Lucan came, two of them had gone missing, and ended up dead. It seemed like accidents at the time, but I just... God, do you know how paranoid I was?! I was scared out of my fucking mind. I was scared to say that I was scared! We pulled out ten kilometers of wiring out of that apartment. Optical bugs, miniature cameras-- dear God, spies were watching me undress! I didn't realize this until months later, long after I stopped using a cell phone, but that was bugged too-- they have this software that can make it so they can hear your conversations even when you're not calling someone... There were spies that were in my staff-- people I thought were my friends! They were here to spy on or kill me, and the people who worked for me-- yes-- including you! There's software out there that can read lips, satellites that can take a picture of a golf tee in grass, computers that can read the vibrations in the bottles of water or any other liquid and turn it into speech! I kept thinking: 'I'll tell them when it's safe...' because it wasn't safe at the time and I didn't know what to do! People died because of the information that was stolen-- I finally figured out why certain political deals were failing, why weapons were turning up missing-- and it's not like it was any easier with the press! People would come up to me on the street and I thought they were just being nice, and chatting with me, but they were wearing a wire... God, you saw the papers..." She found that tears were welling up in her eyes at the memories, the sudden shock of living in a fishbowl. And the fear... "I didn't realize it until then... But, well for example, I was talking outside, joking with Hikari about how much our staff likes a certain type of soda and it's always sold out at the vending machine... That's innocent, right? Nothing classified or dangerous about that? Well, it was overheard, and the next week about seventy-five percent of the staff were sick and some of them wound up in the hospital! And from what? The soda that I so happened to mentioned when I might be overheard. It got to the point where I was afraid to smile at someone because I thought something would happen to them! So I kept telling myself to wait-- because if I told you, if someone was listening, I was afraid it might trigger something-- someone would come after you, or me, or my staff, or... my family.

"So I kept putting it off, and putting it off, and it was always 'tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, when the Palace is built, etc...' But... by the time it was... I had forgotten all about it. I know you're thinking, how could I forget about almost being killed? How could I forget to tell the senshi? But it was complete havoc back then, everything was happening so quickly, and then... Well, it became common. This... this is my life now. And when the other things happened, yeah, I should have come and told you directly when I was in mortal danger. But as you so aptly pointed out, Makoto, I had pushed you all away. I made the information available, but I didn't come and inform you myself. Now I can't tell you everything, but I don't know everything myself," Usagi admitted. "And things are happening every single day. But the big things-- yes, you should be aware of that." She sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "So, yes, I was trying to protect you. I didn't want you to worry, especially since I didn't know how to deal with it. But I was also trying to protect other people. And I did honestly intend to tell you. You may not believe this-- but it's not easy for me to keep things from you. It's not my nature to be secretive, or be anything but... me. And that gets me into trouble and it got me into loads of trouble back then. Because everyone in the world was taking advantage of it, and it was getting people hurt and killed... And I suddenly just had to shut up and not say anything, even little things, and it was so difficult... And like I have a tendency to do, I overdid it." She had to go from trusting everyone to suspecting everyone, and it had driven her insane, until she realized that Lucan was much better at figuring out if someone was coming to hurt her than she was.

"Now I was wrong, and I've already admitted that. I wanted you to have the freedom to make your choices, but I took it too far. Yes, you always stood by me, and I have never forgotten it. And there are days when I long to skip into a senshi meeting late and have Rei yell at me and then we sit in Hikawa shrine and figure out how to save the world, and when a youma or a cardian comes, I could just moondust it, go home, and let someone else clean up the damage. I could go back to reading manga or procrastinating on homework. We have saved the world, and we are better as a team. We do need each other, now more than ever, especially with the Shitennou coming out. But saving the world and running it are two very, very, very different things. It's not just us anymore, guys. We can't run the whole world by ourselves, even if we could save it when it was just the sailor senshi. You may not want to hear this, but... Our 'team' has gotten bigger. It's us, and two million other civil servants."

Sighing, she paused once again to wipe away her tears. "I haven't actively tried to push you away, but, yes, I realize that's what I did. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not asking you what you wanted instead of just assuming. I'm sorry for not figuring out how to tell you sooner. I'm sorry for making you feel like I'm taking away your ability to be... senshi. I'm sorry for not realizing what was under my nose this whole time. And I hope-- eventually-- that you can forgive me. Forgive me of my stupidity, because I came by it honestly. I did what I did because I loved you, because I was frightened, and because I was trying to be a good Queen. Things are changing. We have new people to work with, new duties, and threats that are very different than anything else we've ever faced before. We're going to have to adapt. And when I say we I do mean it."

[Aino Minako]

With the tape over, and Minako's own initial words spoken she fell silent as the other senshi spoke their peace. Makoto's harsh words surprised her. Minako would have expected raging anger from Rei, but the fire senshi simply brooded silently. The air was charged, a product of Makoto's own powers and the added energy served to enhance the emotions that Minako now felt. The initial feelings of shock and hurt melded quickly into a form of anger, although not nearly as explosive as Makoto's, and perhaps directed more inward toward herself. If she'd known Usagi had been in so much danger, would she have left touring the world? Did Usagi not tell them knowing Minako, more so than anyone else, would have sacrificed her dreams to stay by the queen's side? Was it her fault that no one else was informed.

Thoughts swirled through her head as Usagi spoke. Usagi's excuses for putting off telling them. For being afraid that telling them would put more people in danger. She listened to Usagi's long list of all the ways people were gaining and using information against the queen and her co-workers. When Usagi's finally stopped talking, Minako simply shook her head. "Did you ever think, Usagi-chan, that you were putting us at risk by not telling us this? You knew to look for bugs and wires and optical devices. You knew what was appropriate to say and when and where to say it. You may have been scared, but at least you could do something to combat these risks! What about the rest of us? We've been going on day after day saying and doing whatever we wanted under the illusion that we were safe. Sure, there was a little extra security we saw for you, but we didn't think to translate that into this dire need. And when you think about it, why wouldn't any of us be a target as well? We are, or were, your court. I assume that our lives would be worth more than someone one your staff. Or have we been ignored by these terrorist because of your purposeful exclusion of us?

"And I get that we're not trained to handle guns and bombs and bullets and explosions and the like. I get that Lucan and his team are far more capable at handling humans than we are. All our experience lies in fighting pure chaos, evil in the form of evil. Not evil in the form of political assassins with agendas far different than I-am-evil-and-want-to-rule-the-universe. But that doesn't make us incompetent or unable to protect you."

She took a deep breath, "I'm not angry, even if I sound upset. I can understand where you're coming from. Really, I can. But I won't accept that you simply forgot to tell us. I can't imagine ever in my lifetime forgetting what I just heard and saw and it didn't even happen to me. It happened to you."

And then there was the hypocrisy. She had to address that. After watching Hotaru's heart break the night before at the party when she learned that her best friend may never be born, Minako couldn't let this last comment go. "Do you remember a few days ago when you told me that Mamoru keeping the secret of the shittenou from you was unforgivable, not just because that secret impacted you but because it impacted everyone. And that you felt his reasons were selfish, and therefore you couldn't accept that? You tell me right now, Usagi-chan, how this," Minako waved her hand around and found herself standing as she spoke, "This secret that you've kept from us is any different. This impacts us far more than a few stones in a box. This could have been our lives! This could have been your life! This could have ended everything! How can you blame Mamoru for being everything he's always been, when you're being someone you've never been!"

Alright, she was angry. She hadn't expected to raise her voice so high. And Makoto had already provided adequate cuss words. She didn't plan to add to them, but as she felt her emotions rising to the level of the thunder senshi and her fists clenching as she tried to control herself, a string of explicatives tumble out anyway. "That's all. That's it." Her eyes bore down on Usagi for a moment, then turned to Ami, pleading with her friend to provide the reason to calm the room back down after her own enraged tirade.

[Mizuno Ami]

Ami was only slightly surprised that Rei had kept silent, but only a bit. Her friend might have been known for her fiery temper, but she was every bit the lady as well. Ami figured that Rei was waiting to speak so that her words would be well thought out rather than an angry response.

Nor was she overly surprised that Makoto's temper had exploded. The Chef might have had a slower fuse than the Priestess, but that did not mean that she did not go off quite spectacularly when her fuse was ignited. The fact that Usagi had been in danger, the future for which all of them had worked so hard had been endangered, and Usagi hadn't even informed them was a serious matter that was sure to bring out the most passionate of responses.

Ami listened to Usagi's explanation, trying hard not to catalog the problems with her explanation. More accusations would do nothing to ease the situation or to heal the hurt and anger which she and the others were feeling at the moment. She could mention that once Usagi's own apartment was free from bugs and listening devices, she could have invited them over as friends and told them what they needed to know in the safety and privacy of her apartment. It might have put them in some danger, but they would have had the information to make their own decisions about security and could have helped - not just as her Senshi but as her friends.

For Ami, that was probably even more painful than the being denied the ability to do her job as a Senshi. Duty was important to Ami - she'd been doing her duty all of her life: studying hard, being a good daughter, following in her mother's footsteps and becoming a doctor - though eventually that had become her own dream as well. Friendship was something she came to much later than most, and Usagi and then the others had been the ones to bring her to that treasure, to help her understand what it was and just how important it could be. For Usagi to disregard that, to not turn to them for help and comfort hurt Ami as much as Usagi's rational angered her. Ami had shown more times than she could count that she could and would drop anything to help her friends, but Usagi refused to allowed them to help, to share her burden.

Ami did not miss Minako's look, knew the other's would probably expect the same of her. The calm one, the quiet one, the rational one. She was the one supposed to diffuse the situation, but she wasn't sure she could even if she wanted to.

She did not feel the air around her chill, but when she touched her glass of water, she saw it frost over. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and shook her head. There was nothing she could say that would not sound petulant or had not already been said.