The inside of the building wasn’t much to look at. Hallways of white-painted, cinderblock-brick walls, white, tiled floor and buzzing fluorescent lights. 

Obviously the lights were either out or flickering from Liv’s work on frying the electrical system, leaving us with limited visibility but also no cameras or other electrical detections. The air was rank with the smell of natural gas, but nobody else was in the building thanks to Ivy’s work. I kept the front of the group illuminated with the glow of my upraised moon stick as we crept through the empty halls.

Lani stepped by my side, cautiously keeping watch as we were engulfed in a faint mist that they had created. This was both to dampen Ivy’s stink-spores that were still in circulation, while also keeping us less visible to any stragglers. We hadn’t seen anyone yet, but-

We rounded a corner and I collided with someone. My body crashed against theirs in a clumsy moment of panic, but I moved into action as soon as my brain could manage it. Years of martial arts training flew to the top of my brain and moved my body in a ballet of muscle-memory.

I acted as quickly as I could, not allowing them any opportunity to take stock of the situation or see our faces clearly. I grabbed their arm and spun on my heel, using the full momentum of my body to try to pull them off balance and throw them over my shoulder.

They tried to resist, but, despite my transition, I had since learned how to use my remaining strength to my advantage. They tumbled over my shoulder and onto the ground with a thud.

Only to land on their feet. They dove at me with a surprising speed and drove me to the ground with a tackle around the waist. I continued to use their momentum against them as I followed through the motion and rolled backwards to drive my attacker onto the ground with me on top. This caught them off guard, and I had just enough time to cock back my fist and-

Realize that I had been fighting with Riley.

“Oh…” I said, blushing faintly. “S-sorry.”

“I GOT HIM SAILOR MOON!” said Harley, pulling out a large and heavy mallet from god-knows-where and raising it over her head.

“Wait wait!” I said, trying to interpose myself between her and Riley. “He’s a friend! He’s the inside man!”

Harley hesitated for a few more seconds than was comfortable before lowering her mallet again. “Fine…” she sighed, shrugging as she shouldered the hammer. She examined him carefully as he pulled himself to his feet. “What, is he your Tuxedo Mask or something?”

Me and Riley exchanged glances. He seemed both alarmed and a little disturbed at the idea and I shook my head. I liked Riley, but he couldn’t hold a candle to Toru. No man I had met could. “Uh… no,” I said, shaking my head. “I have a girlfriend.”

Harley grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around to face her, pressing her nose to my own. “I have literally been waiting my entire life to hear those words come from your beautiful mouth,” she said, awed as she stared deep into my eyes. “Which one is it? I wrote fanfiction for every single pairing and I need to know which scout you’re screwing… the canon depends on it.”

She looked over my shoulder to Mercury and Mars in expectation. “Is it one of you?”

Maya went bright red as she turned away from Harley’s inquisitive stare. Lani shook their head. “Nuh uh…”

Harley’s manic gaze returned to me, and both to keep the mission back on track and to keep her from trying to aggressively ship me with someone else, I sighed.

“Uh… my girlfriend is Green Lantern,” I sighed, stepping back. “Can we keep moving?” I turned to Riley, “Do you know where the chemical production is? The maps aren’t all that helpful and this place is a maze.”

Riley nodded, pointing to the left. “This way… we’re not that far.”

Harley didn’t immediately respond, to the point of standing stock still, before bursting into motion once again. “GREEN LANTERN?! Seriously?!” she exclaimed, “Not Black Canary or Wonder Woman or, hell, even Huntress… but Green Lantern?!” She threw up her hands in frustration. “How the hell am I supposed to ship that?! I didn’t even know that Green Lantern was a chick…” She looked at me curiously. “Wait… did the last guy get gender flipped or something? Or got swapped with a parallel universe version or something? Or did he just die?”

“My understanding is that the original Green Lantern trained up a pair of replacements,” I said, trying to keep the frustration out of my voice. God damn, this girl was exhausting. I had no idea how Poison Ivy put up with her. 

“It’s just…” grumbled Harley, clearly sulking, “of all of the capes you could have picked, you picked-”

I rounded on her and took my turn to grab her shoulders, glaring into her surprised face with barely contained fury. “I picked someone who makes me happy. I picked someone who understands what it’s like to live in the shadow of someone else. I picked someone who is loving, kind and beautiful and just trying to do her best. I don’t care what kind of elaborate fanfiction you want to craft in your brain… but I found someone who loves me for who I am and who I am content with.” I sighed, stepping away from her, “Sorry to disappoint you.”

I understood where she was coming from. I’d read and written Sailor Moon fanfiction back in the day. I’d imagined what it would be like for certain senshi to be paired off with one another. But I’d long since realized that they were real people. They weren’t these dolls for us to play with at our whims. Reality didn’t always fit our expectations.

And I was tired of having to justify my gender, my name, my love and all of it. I just wanted to be me.

The others had made a point to step away from the two of us, and I made an effort to redouble my steps to catch up with the others. I heard no sounds behind me, but I couldn’t help but imagine that Harley might be sneaking up behind me with that hammer.

“S-sorry,” said Harley, her voice much less manic.

I sighed and turned back over my shoulder. Harley looked visibly hurt and I took a moment to stop.

“Look… I’m sorry that we’re not exactly the power-couple you were expecting. I don’t know… maybe Wonder Woman is a great lady or maybe Zatanna is single or maybe Power Girl…” I flushed as my brain supplied me with some interesting scenarios which I had to clear out my head, “But I’m not interested in just being with someone because they have some kind of power or because their costume is shapely,” I flushed, “... I’m with Green Lantern because I want a relationship. And I’m happy with her.”

Mostly. Those feelings for Toru were still as strong as ever, but I wasn’t about to go down that rabbit hole in the presence of a rabid fangirl.

Harley smiled. “Yeah… I get that.. After me and Mistah J split… Ivy was the one who showed me what a relationship is supposed to feel like… It’s not just blowing up buildings or hanging oil executives over a balcony… it’s about those small little cozy moments of watching pirated movies on the couch or burning stacks of money by the fire.”

“S-sure…” I said, nodding. “That’s what I’m talking about.” I gestured behind me. “So, can we keep going?”

Harley nodded, smiling brightly with renewed enthusiasm. “Sure!”

I sighed in relief and with Riley’s direction, we made it to the chemical production area.

We approached a thick metallic door that refused to open from a casual push. The faint, sickening aroma of something unpleasant wafted on the air as we approached. A stronger version of what was in the air as we approached the factory.

Harley leaped forward and smashed her hammer against the door. While it made a hell of a noise, it remained unmarked and unmoving from her attack. 

I looked at Maya. I knew her fire could melt through the doors, but among all of the hazard signs on the door, there was a large one which had the picture of an open flame with a slash through it. This stuff was probably flammable.

“I don’t suppose you could hack it, Ironweld?” I said, turning to Riley. 

He nodded. “Yeah, I can get it open. Just give me a second. I should have probably done this sooner anyway…” He brought up his wrist, where a rather thick and bulky watch rested. “I guess you’re not the only one that had a transformation gimmick…” He tapped the watch twice and as he did so, a silvery, mercurial ooze began to flow out of it. “I mean, I had to pivot to nanomachines. My old suit was too bulky and difficult to lug around with me everywhere.” Heedlessly, he continued to talk as a silvery film of mirror-sheen liquid metal flowed over him. “I actually did a little work with Doctor Magnus and learned a lot about the applications of nanotech. Just a sec…” the silvery film covered his mouth for a moment before resolving into a second face made of silver. Riley’s body was covered in a set of purely decorative rivets. On his chest, a wrench-like insignia embossed itself.

“And there we go,” the silvery Riley said, examining himself, “and here we have my Ironweld suit-up. No special code phrases or anything, but it does the job.” He stepped over to the door and placed his hands on the door. “One moment.” His silvery hands grew a tendril on each wrist which spiked into the door and penetrated it. With a grunt of effort, Riley strained to open it and with a shearing shriek of metal on metal, the door gave way, opening itself up.

“Knock knock!” cried Riley with a chuckle. I, and the others, gaped at the ease and power that Ironweld wielded, but accepted his contribution by stepping into the room:

It was horrible. A metallic, noxious aroma which was a million times worse than the scent that lingered in the surrounding wilderness. Vats upon vats stretched out, filled with some kind of smoking and bubbling chemical that looked like a sludgy, oily mess. The vapors shimmered through the air and made my head spin. Covering my face didn’t particularly do anything to reduce the smell.

“Ugh,” said Harley, waving away the smell. “I’ve dealt with my fair share of shady chemical vats, but that smells like shit.”

Maya pulled her hijab up around her mouth to cover the stench. “Eugh…”

Lani winced in physical disgust as they looked to me expectantly. “Yeah, might want to toss that plant that Ivy gave you quickly… I’m going to throw up if I have to smell that much longer.

“Uh… yeah I’m glad the suit is filtering this stuff out,” said Riley, wrinkling his silver nose. “The air readings are triggering like a million biohazard warnings.”

I nodded and fished out the baseball-sized seed and, trying desperately not to breathe through my nose, approached the vats with the chemically neutralizing creation of Ivy’s. My eyes burned in their sockets and it was agony to get close enough to throw it, but I managed to push onwards and toss the seed into the vat.

Ivy’s handiwork exploded into a mass of vines and fungus and other plant life which soon spread over all of the vats, greedily absorbing the chemicals and making the surrounding air a little more breathable. The plants covered all of the vats in the blink of an eye and seemed to drink them up… but the plants began to wither and blacken under their effects. Until finally, they went still, leaving only their blackened, dead remains. Whatever Ivy did had used the plants to catalyze the chemicals into something less toxic, I hoped.

“We still need to get Ivy to make another seed for the groundwater,” I sighed, “But I think we’re done here and can move on to phase three and destroy the facility.” There was a sudden whooshing of air behind me and I turned back around to the others.

But they weren’t there. Or, at the very least, they weren’t upright. Maya and Lani were knocked over and groaning on the floor in a heap. Harley was dazed on the floor and holding her head. And Riley was being hoisted in the air by the man at the center of it all.

His body-covering, red suit and mask left only the flesh of his lower face visible, twisted into an expression of pure fury as he held Riley aloft. Where his ears were, there were jagged lightning bolts set into a pair of earpieces. And at his chest was a singular lightning bolt-shaped emblem.

The Flash was here. Despite all of our planning and precautions, he had shown up and kicked all of our asses in a fraction of a second. He had left me standing only because Riley seemed to have particularly infuriated him.

“You betrayed us!” snarled Flash, shaking Riley in his surprisingly firm grip. “We brought you on right out of high school… the board of directors fought me every step of the way… but you did all that amazing work… and you just decided to throw it away? With people like this?!” He stabbed an accusatory finger at Harley.

“Urk… people were going to get hurt…” choked Riley, writhing in his grip.

“We were going to fix it, Riley! There was a plan!” sighed Flash, massaging his forehead, “So what if a few trees or squirrels or whatever get a little sick? This compound is going to revolutionize everything. We’ll be able to buy as many trees and squirrels as we want. We can do the environmental cleanup later, but now… we need to get this stuff out the door now!  The stockholders meeting is next month and if we don’t have this out to market, people will lose their jobs!!” He stabbed a finger into his chest. “And you’ll be the one to blame.”

“Th-the woods…” Riley croaked.

“You! Are! Not! The! EPA!” Flash shouted, shaking him every syllable, “We live in a world of laws, Riley! If you want to make a difference, then vote, quit or lodge a complaint or something! This…” he gestured to the now empty vats, “is a crime! And that suit doesn’t make you above the law!”

“It doesn’t make you above what’s right either!” I said, stepping forward. “Blighting an entire state park and dumping untold toxic shit into the environment is still a bad thing, cleanup or not. Even if you can heal someone, it doesn’t make hurting them okay!”

Flash cocked his head to the side and blurred towards me, letting Riley fall onto the ground with a clang. “I… I know you,” he breathed, a foot away from me, a frown creasing his features.

“The beautiful defender of planet earth in a sailor suit,” I said, without a trace of irony or jest in my voice, “Sailor Moon.”

He nodded. “Yeah, you’re Batsie's new golden child.” He snorted. “Not going to be happy to hear about this from little miss perfect, is he?”

“I don’t particularly care what he, you, or anyone else thinks about this situation,” I said, coolly. “Whatever excuses you’ve decided to tell yourself about this, you are in the wrong. I know what I’m doing is right. No amount of money or politics will change that.”

Flash blinked at me in shock at my confidence. Inside, I was a mess of fear, doubt and anxiety, but seeing my friends being hurt washed away all of those feelings in a white-hot rage of righteous fury. I didn’t care about how unmatched I was, I was going to tell him off for this.

“Look… kid,” sighed Flash, taking a step back, “I get it… you’re young and new at this hero thing. You want to fix everything. But, you gotta know your limits.” He indicated the windows. “You’re outgunned. I got my whole team taking on your goons outside. And they’re going to win because we’re actual heroes and you’re a bunch of amateurs in miniskirts.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” I said, holding his gaze and taking another step forward, “But I’m still going to fight for this.”

Flash’s face hardened. “Are you serious? Do you know who you’re talking to? Kid, I’m the fastest man alive! I’m on the freaking Justice League!  Look at your friends!” He indicated Harley, Lani, Maya and Riley as they struggled to get back on their feet. “I didn’t even break a sweat. What makes you think you can beat me?! And I’ve got a whole team that can do the same thing to your friends. It’s over.”

I smiled. “Oh I’m sure. I know I can’t beat you.”

Flash held out his arms in exasperation. “So you’re just going to make me take you out, too? Just to prove a point?”

“Oh, no,” I said, shaking my head, “because while you can beat us all individually, you can’t beat all of us together.”

Flash snorted. “Uh… hate to break it to you kid, but my team already knocked out all your friends. The two other sailor girls and Poison Ivy, Beast Boy and your little dog too. You’re alone.”

“I am never alone,” I said, feeling something begin to pulse against my chest. It was my heartbeat, but also the heartbeats of my fellow scouts. They were with me. I knew that to my very being. “And I’m not afraid of you.”

Flash began to vibrate, shifting out of focus. “Whatever you wanna tell yourself,” his voice buzzing with his movement, “any last words?”

I grinned. There was only one thing I had to say. “Moon Crisis, Make Up.”

He never should have given me the chance to talk, to think or to come up with a plan. But he was so convinced of his own power and righteousness that it never occurred to him that he was in any kind of danger of defeat. He would have won and should have done it in the blink of an eye.

But he underestimated us. He saw a bunch of silly girls in skirts who weren’t a real threat. He had been at the top of the totem pole for so long that he never thought to look down and see who was climbing the ranks. He was just so damn certain of his victory that he never saw it coming.

I wasn’t certain in the slightest. I wasn’t certain what I was doing was right. I wasn’t certain that I could even do this. And I wasn’t certain that I would be able to beat Flash even if my plan did work.

But doubt was a part of the whole experience. The uncertainty. The gamble. It had been a gamble the moment I accepted this power in the first place. I could have lost a million times before this moment and I might lose right now. I certainly didn’t have great odds.

But I had to try. I couldn’t call myself a hero if I didn’t. Maybe I was taking on too much or biting off more than I could chew or overestimating my abilities… but the whole point of being a Sailor Scout was fighting with your heart.

And right now, my heart was telling me to kick this guy’s ass.

With the new transformation phrase, I had tapped into the next level of power, or at least, I had intended to do so. The unlocking of Super Sailor Moon’s power for Usagi had taken an act of divine intervention. It had required her to literally pick up the power of the Holy Grail. 

Which was theologically problematic, because how in the fuck did Jesus Christ get embroiled in the politics of Crystal Millennium 10,000 years before his incarnation? But it was also confusing as the history of the Holy Grail involved Jesus, King Arthur, Vandal Savage and apparently factored into World War 2? 

It was unlikely that the Holy Grail which granted Sailor Moon the next echelon of strength was the same one a carpenter drank out of 2000 or so years ago, but that was never the point of it.

Sailor Moon had become Super Sailor Moon through the investment of power from all of her teammates. Their power and belief in her had filled the cup to overflowing, washing over her with its power. It wasn’t faith in God, but faith in one another that had given her the strength she needed to fight harder.

They had let me lead them. They had followed me into this fight. And even now, as I watched them and felt them within me, they were getting up to fight again. I could feel all of them refusing to give up against overwhelming odds. Because they believed in our cause and in me.

And I would show them what their belief could do.  

The transformation into Super Sailor Moon  was as if all of the other senshi’s transformations had suddenly converged and overlapped all over me. It was almost painful with how much energy surged into me. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it on my own, but because it was the power of my teammates… my friends, I knew it was safe.

The transformation hit its crescendo and in a shockwave of energy, the power resolved itself.

It wasn’t precisely like the outfit that Usagi was supposed to wear. But I had come to terms with the fact that I was not Usagi and never could be. I didn’t want to be. I didn’t want to be anchored to the past anymore. I wanted to forge my own future.

The original Super Sailor Moon outfit was essentially the standard Sailor Moon costume with a white skirt and yellow highlights and with a bigger white bow on the back.

Mine was something which better reflected the nature of the power. All of the colors of my fellow sailor scouts, blue, green, red and orange, flowed over my skirt in a rainbow. The bow on my back was a pastel blue, white and pink.

But aside from the costume change, I could feel the sheer weight of the power that I now had at my fingertips. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to beat Flash, but at the very least, I could fight on a more level playing field.

Flash blurred out of view and I was suddenly awash in lightning-fast blows all over my body. Punches, kicks, elbows and all of them delivered at an appreciable fraction of the speed of sound.

And all of them did little more than give me the sensation of a very unusual full-body massage. Wherever the blurred form of the Flash struck, a small little rainbow of light would spark off of my body, leaving little effect on me.

Flash stopped and froze in shock, staring at me uncomprehendingly. “What the fuck did you do?”

I smiled, seeing Maya, Liv, Harley and Riley getting to their feet, a new sense of determination on their faces. 

“I am Super Sailor Moon,” I said, flexing my fingers. “And in the name of the moon, me and my team are going to kick your fucking ass.”