Part XI

"Maybe not, Miss Lizard Eyes, but we're not losing!" HLM shouts, standing by Neph, claws extended.

Beryl smirks as, with a gesture, sends a force bolt of energies strong at HLM, it throws her through two walls.

"Flying morons, what'll they think of next?" Beryl sneers, watching Neph run off to check on HLM.

She holds a hand up at Zoi, stopping her cold in the middle of a leap.

"Ah ah ah," Beryl grins, "your over eagerness is what got you killed the last time, remember?"

"No," Kunzite speaks up, holding his hands in front of him, palms facing Beryl. He forms a dome around her, "You are what killed her, bitch queen."

Beryl scowls, feeling the air around her drop in temperature.

"You of all people, Kunzite," she snarls, "should know not to insult me."

Kunzite begins collapsing the dark dome around her, forcing her concentration away from holding Zoi in the air and into concentrating on not being crushed by the power of the silver haired ex-general.

At first, the dome closes in on her, but within a few moments, it just stops, and to Kunz's irritation, starts fading.

With a start, he realizes that Beryl's using one of his own tricks against him. He finds the energy being put into the attack is being absorbed.

Instead of throwing it back into his face, as he did with the Senshi, he can tell it's being redirected somewhere else instead.

During this exchange, Neph and a dazed HLM return.

Abruptly he cuts off his attack.

"Minna," he starts to telepath to everyone else.

Before he can finish though, both Nephrite and Jadeite attack. As Jae throws balls of crackling lightning at her, Neph hurls balls of explosive starlight at her.

Both handsome faces are adorned with frowns as they watch Beryl laugh and gleefully absorb the energy from the attacks.

HLM's glowing eyes widen.

"Folks," she telepaths, "she's absorbing the energy of the attacks."

"Exactly what I was trying to tell you all before! I think she's channeling that energy into waking Metallia up," Kunz replies telepathically.

"Shit," Diana joins in, "then how do we attack her? Physically?"

"Much as I wish I could say otherwise, I don't think attacking physically would be wise. In the blink of an eye, this woman can very easily blow our bodies into atoms," Zoi joins in.

"Is that all you weaklings have got?" Beryl cackles. "Then seeing as I can't turn you as I did to all but two of you all those years ago, I'll just have to destroy you all!"

She regards them all with glowing eyes.

"Hmm, but who first?

"Kunzite? Hmm, though excellent in bed, I think perhaps he was in agreement with Sapphire in thinking Zoisite was better."

She grins at Kunz's clenching of the jaw and Zoi's widened eyes.

"I'll save you both for later.

"Jadeite, your love for Diana is eternal, I think I'd take more pleasure in..."

HLM interrupts her speech with an exasperated sigh. "WHY do you bad guy types insist on rattling off your thoughts and/or plans to your 'victims'? What...do you have some kind of complex or something?"

Beryl narrows her eyes and looks over at HLM. "I was going to kill you first, annoying moron. You just took a little more time off of your life. FOR BEING THE LAST OF A RACE THAT BANISHED ME AND.." she screams in rage as HLM's claws rip through her flesh.

The only reason the attack isn't fatal, as intended, is that Beryl jerked back in reflex.

"Ah...you're still quite the warrior, Moron. Though now you are different than you were back then."

"Maybe so, but I can still whup YOUR sorry ass!" With that, HLM leaps at her again, claws first.

"That was one battle, alien, the war, I won," Beryl smirks as she steps aside, bringing a fist down hard on HLM's spine.

HLM slams down hard into the floor, glad her bones can't be broken, but hurting like hell none the less.

"Whatever, bitch queen," HLM snarls as she gets up, unaware of the force field around them both, keeping the others from them. "As I remember it, you were killed by a queen, Metallia was put into hibernation and the rest of us were sent to Earth to be reborn!"

Beryl snarls, sending her hair to entrap HLM in a strangling grip.

"Damn," HLM murmers, "talk about hair to die for..."

"You were dead! You can't know of all this!"

HLM turns burning eyes on Beryl and snarls, "I wasn't dead, you fool! No one knew I was still alive," HLM's eyes narrow, "I was dying, slowly and painfully. If not for that rubble covering my body, I would have been able to hold my intestines in my hands!"

Beryl snarls and begins draining HLM's energy to send to Metallia.

Apon seeing Beryl's actions and hearing HLM's words, Neph throws himself bodily at the two of them. When he gets within a foot of the two, he bounces back and to the floor.

Beryl releases HLM's limp, energy drained body and laughs evilly as an icy wind whips through the room.

A deep, raspy, feminine voice rips through the room as a dark shadow starts to take substance.

Diana's eyes widen, recognizing this evil darkness as a relative of her rapist, the Dark Master.

"Metallia," she gasps.

Part X
Part XII
Beginnings and Endings Index