“We really shouldn’t turn our back on the enemy,” Spica said.  “It’s not dignified.”
“Who cares about dignity at a time like this?” Vega asked.  “We were outnumbered, surrounded, the odds against us, and all the other wonderful bad stuff that can happen to us in a fight happened.  What else were we supposed to do?”
Spica shrugged.  “Stay and fight and knock off the clones, maybe?”
“But we must respect Sailor Zephyr’s decision as the leader,” Orion said sarcastically, “however bad that decision is.”
“Cut it out, Orion,” Zephyr said, exasperated.
By this time, Io was exhausted.  “Can’t…run…anymore,” she gasped, collapsing on the ground.
“Io!” Inferno called after her, looking over her shoulder at her fallen friend.
“Not now!” Zephyr pulled Inferno back into place.  “So she’s lagging behind.  So what?  Survival of the fittest, you know.  Save our own hides first.”  Inferno looked upset, but said nothing.
Meanwhile, Astatine had caught up to Io, who was still on the ground.  Astatine laughed.  “Hypnos, come here!  I’ve got one!”
Io looked up at her fearfully.  “You!” she whispered.  “Stay away from me.  Or else I’ll…I’ll…do something that you wouldn’t like!” Io said, trying to sound threatening as she scooted away from Astatine.
Astatine laughed.  “You’re completely exhausted, no energy left whatsoever.  I don’t think you could hurt me in your current condition.”  She then kicked Io, who groaned as she went rolling across the sidewalk.
Astatine laughed some more as a teleport door appeared behind her, out of which came a small robot.  The robot wheeled out of the door and sidled up to Astatine.  “You called, mistress?”
“Yes actually, I did,” Astatine said.  “This little girl…deal with her appropriately, Hypnos, you understand?”
“Yes, mistress,” Hypnos said.
Io, frightened, cowered below the three-foot-tall robot.  “What are you going to do?” she asked.  “Are you going to…to kill me?”
“Do you want us to?” Astatine asked.  “We’d be very much obliged to…”
“No!” Io cried out with startling forcefulness, considering how weak she was.
“Fine then,” Astatine said.  “We’ll just force you into slavery, make you hurt your little sailor friends instead, have no control over your pathetic little human mind, would you like that better?”
Io shook her head, but Astatine ignored her.  She pushed one of the buttons on Hypnos’s controls, and Hypnos’s eyes began to glow.  Soon Io’s eyes began to glow as well, her injuries and wounds healing up.  Hypnos grabbed her wrist and put a gold cuff around it.  Io stood up, now completely under the possession of the enemy.
“Good girl,” Astatine said.  “You too, Hypnos.  Come on, children, let’s go.”  She led the robot and the brainwashed sailor down the road after the others.
 

“Keep running, guys!” Zephyr shouted words of encouragement to the other sailors.  “We’ll just duck into the cave, then the crazy lady won’t be able to find us!”
But Arcturus stopped, out of breath and tired.  “Don’t want to,” she said, sitting on a nearby bench.  The others kept on running, not even realizing that she had been left, and continued on towards the beach.
“Here!” Orion shouted to the others, pointing up at the cave.  “The cave’s in here, guys!”  The rest of them scrambled up the hill and into the cave, except for Inferno, who fell back down the hill and hit her head on a rock, knocking her unconscious.  But no one else was paying attention and they all filed into the cave.
While this was happening, Astatine had found Arcturus.  “Oh look Hypnos, another one.”
Arcturus looked scared.  “Io?” she asked, glancing from her sister to Astatine to Hypnos and back.  “What’s happening?”
“Okay, Sailor Io, go get her,” Astatine commanded the brainwashed Io.  Io advanced on her sister.
“Sara?” Arcturus asked.  “They got her?”
Io lunged at Arcturus, grabbing her around the neck.  Arcturus screamed and kicked at Io.  Her foot drove into the back of Io’s knees, causing Io to buckle to the ground.  Once Arcturus was free, she ran up to Astatine and did a flying sideways kick at her.
“Ouch!” Astatine yelled.  “Little juvenile delinquent.”  Astatine grabbed Arcturus by both wrists and held her arms behind her back.  Arcturus struggled, so Astatine drove her knee into Arcturus’s back, causing her to double over.  “Okay Hypnos, your turn.”
Hypnos stood in front of the sailor and its eyes began to glow.  Soon it had Arcturus brainwashed, and it slapped another gold cuff on her wrist.  Astatine, Hypnos, and the two sailors headed off down the road.
 

 “Guys?” Vega said.  “Where are Arcturus, Io, and Inferno?”
 “Somewhere else, not here,” Nova muttered.
 “Oh, ha ha,” Vega shot back sarcastically.  “And where’s Astatine?”
 “Like I said, somewhere else, not here,” Nova said again.
 Realizing something, Spica sat up abruptly.  “Astatine got them!”
 “What?” Zephyr asked.
 “That’s got to be it, why they’re not here,” Spica said.  “Astatine must have gotten them and taken them back to…to wherever it is that their headquarters are.”
 “Nah, they probably just got lost,” Orion said.  “Happens all the time.  The Ditz Sisters and the Towering Inferno?  Yep, they’re lost.”
 “If so, then they’ll eventually find us right?” Spica said.
 “Yes, they will,” Zephyr said, but she wasn’t so sure of that.
 

 “Oh look guys, another one,” Astatine announced, standing over the unconscious Inferno.  She rolled Inferno over with her foot, lifted her eyelids, and examined the blood vessels in her eyes.  “Nope, she isn’t dead,” Astatine said.  “Okay Hypnos, you know what to do.”
 Hypnos bent over Inferno, and Inferno’s eyes snapped open.  Both Hypnos’s and Inferno’s eyes began to glow.  Inferno stood up, conscious once again, and completely brainwashed.  Hypnos put the gold cuff on her wrist, and the group started up the hill.
 

 “Okay, it’s been half an hour,” Vega said; she and the others were still waiting in the cave.  “I’m going to go look for them.”  Vega got up and started towards the cave opening.
 “Going someplace, sailor girl?” a voice asked.  Vega stopped and looked up through the opening to the cave.  Standing in the opening were Inferno, Io, and Arcturus, along with Astatine and Hypnos.
 “Er…no,” Vega replied lamely, unable to think of anything better to say.
 Astatine laughed.  “Good.”  She turned around to the others behind her and said, “Okay everyone, show yourselves!”
 Io, Arcturus, Inferno, and Hypnos appeared from behind Astatine.
Zephyr ran up to Io.  “Where were you guys?  We were waiting—”
She was cut off when Io backhanded her across the face.  “Don’t waste my time,” Io replied.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked, Sailor Zephyr,” Astatine said, noticing Zephyr’s expression.  “She’s under my control now, as are the other two.”
“Not for very long,” Spica said, stepping forward.  She raised her sword and held it up to Io and the others.
“Arcturus Cloud Capture!” Arcturus yelled.  The cave was filled with mist for an instant, and when the mist had lifted, Spica was trapped by a chain of ice and the other Astros with another chain.
“Good job,” Astatine praised Arcturus.  “Hypnos, get the sword girl over there.”
Hypnos wheeled up to Spica and its eyes glowed.  Spica tried to resist, but she couldn’t and was soon under the mind control spell.  Hypnos put the bracelet on her that he had used on the others.
“Spica!” Orion yelled.  He grabbed the chain and tried to pull it apart, but to no effect.
“Here, let me try,” Zephyr said, moving to the outside of the group so she could reach the chain.  The Star Scepter appeared in her hands, and she used it to break the chain.  “Is that what you were trying to do, Orion?”
“So your stupid little magic wand could break the chain, but I couldn’t?” Orion said in disbelief.  “Okay, the laws of physics aren’t on my side today.”
Once the sailors were free, Spica immediately challenged them.  She held out her sword at them threateningly, and the other brainwashed sailors stood behind her to back her up.
Reluctantly, Zephyr stepped forward.  “I hate to have to do this, but we have to fight them,” she told the others.
“Fight?” Andromeda asked.  “But why?”
“We want to be able to heal them again, right?” Zephyr asked.  “Then we need Spica un-brainwashed so that we can have her heal everyone else.”
“Well, if that’s what we have to do, we’ll do it,” Vega said, assuming a fighting stance.  “Vega Rose Blossom!”
Spica dodged the attack, then came charging at Vega with her sword raised.  Vega ducked just in time, and Spica ran past her into the back wall of the cave.
With Spica out of her way, Nova attacked.  “Poison Ice!”
“Inferno Lava River!” Inferno counter-attacked, melting the huge ice cubes.
“Speed of Light!” Orion yelled, firing an attack at Arcturus.  Arcturus dodged the attack and charged him, but he managed to pick her up and pin her arms and legs, thus preventing her from further harming him.  “Hey guys, I’ve got one!” he yelled.
“Good job!” Zephyr, who was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Io, said.  “Just hold her there for a minute, okay?”
Meanwhile, Spica was still fighting with Vega.  She threw an energy sphere at her, but Vega used her Bloom Safety Wall to deflect it.  Vega was about to attack again when Nova ran over.
“Wait, Vega, I’ve got a plan,” she said urgently.  “You distract her somehow, and make it so that I can get her sword.”
“Are you completely insane?” Vega exclaimed in reaction.  “What’s the sword for?”
Nova pointed.  “You see those bracelets they all have on?”
“Ohh,” Vega said.  “You think that’s what’s controlling them?”
“Well, they weren’t wearing those gold monstrosities before they were brainwashed, were they?” Nova asked.
“Fine,” Vega said.  She began throwing a series of punches and kicks at Spica, most of which got deflected or blocked by Spica and didn’t actually hit.  “This good enough distraction for you?” she called over to Nova.
“Yeah, that’s good,” Nova said.  “Now all I have to do is wait for the right moment to jump in,” she thought.
The right moment came soon enough.  Vega kicked Spica’s right hand, the one that was holding the sword, and the sword went flying out of her hand and clattered to the floor a couple yards away.  Spica dove to retrieve the sword.
“I don’t think so,” Vega said.  “Bloom Safety Wall!”  Spica was trapped inside the flower from Vega’s attack, allowing Nova to get the sword.
Nova sliced through the wall of energy to reach Spica, and the wall disappeared.  Spica tried to grab her sword back, but Nova managed to keep it away from her.  Then, with a quick slash of the sword, Nova had cut off the bracelet that Hypnos had put on Spica.  Immediately Spica was released from the evil influence, and she fell to the ground, exhausted.
“Okay, has someone got Spica un-brainwashed yet?” Orion asked, still holding up Arcturus.  “Or am I going to have to constrain this kid any longer?”
“I have the sword,” Nova said, running over.  She slashed the sword again and cut off Arcturus’s bracelet.
“Cyclone Trap!” Io yelled.  Nova and the sword went flying up into the column of wind.
“Whoops, it appears we have opposition,” Nova muttered, trying to keep a firm grip on the sword to prevent it from falling into the enemy’s hands.
“Nova!” Vega yelled.  “Throw the sword to me!”
“Can you catch it?” Nova asked dubiously.
“Yes!”  Vega was getting impatient.  “Come on, just throw.”
“Okay, here!”  Nova threw the sword at Vega.
But somehow, while she was throwing it, it had spun around and Vega caught it blade first.  The material of her sailor glove was torn, a red stripe of blood staining the material.  Vega dropped the sword, then hurriedly picked it up with her other hand.  “Someone else take this!”
“I will,” Andromeda offered, stepping forward.
Nova looked surprised.  “You will?  No offense, but you don’t seem like the type of person that could…”
“I guess none of you ever knew this,” Andromeda explained, “but I took kendo when I was younger.  I can use a sword.”
“Cool,” Vega said, nodding her approval.  “Here, you take it.  Darn, I hope that cut doesn’t scar…”
Andromeda took the sword and pointed it at Io.  Io, in her mind-controlled state, didn’t appear scared.  Andromeda whipped the sword around and promptly sliced off the bracelet.  The bracelet fell to the cave floor, and Io collapsed, releasing Nova from the cyclone.  Andromeda continued on to cut off Inferno’s bracelet, and Inferno also collapsed.
“Well,” Astatine huffed.  “You may have gotten me this time, but I believe your luck is running out!”  She and Hypnos then disappeared.
“Are you all right, Vega?” Andromeda asked.  “Here, let me see that.”  She took off Vega’s glove and her own, using her glove to clean Vega’s cut.  Then she stripped a piece of material from her glove and wrapped it tightly around Vega’s hand to stop the bleeding.
“Thanks,” Vega said, examining Andromeda’s makeshift tourniquet.
“What about these guys?” Nova asked.  She picked up the still unconscious Spica’s hand, then dropped it.  “In case you couldn’t tell, they’re unconscious.”
“We’ll wait here with them until they wake up,” Zephyr said.  “And they will, it’s just a matter of time…”
 
 
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