After long and weighty arguments, the gang decided on a course of action. Cassandra set up a dinner meeting with the mysterious Sir Charles after calling Andrew during the height of the arguing and telling him not to come by the shrine that day. Charles could meet with them tomorrow. It took a lot of convincing, but she finally talked everyone into sending only a few people with her instead of all ten of them. Serena went because she was, after all, the Princess; Amy went because she was the one most involved, and Molly went in her capacity as Princess Serenity's right hand woman.

The meeting was set to be at the Parisian Blossom, a very swanky restaurant on top of a hotel in downtown Tokyo. Promptly at seven o'clock the next evening, the four girls walked into the posh entrance of the restaurant. The matr'd sauntered up and looked them up and down. "Children are not allowed here unaccompanied." The three younger girls blushed furiously at the derision in the man's voice.

Cassandra ignored the comment and looked right through the snooty man. She shrugged out of her long coat and casually handed it to a nearby server. The matre'd's eyes bulged as he took in her elegant gown and understated but obviously very expensive jewelry. Cassie's eyes swept the main dining area with cool, almost contemptuous eyes before looking for the first time at the stunned matre'd. "Is Charles here yet?" she asked in a bored drawl.

"Ch-Charles?" the man stuttered.

"Charles Timewell. My friends and I are to meet him here." She looked away from the flustered matre'd as if he wasn't even worthy of being talked to.

"Yes, yes of course." The man tried to put back on his mask of hauteur as he snapped his fingers at a server. "Paul, take these ladies to Mr. Timewell's dining room." The server bowed and beckoned for the girls to follow him. Cassie swept after him and the others stumbled along in her wake like tramp freighters trying to catch an elegant ocean liner.

The server showed them into a private dining room and was seating them when a cultured British voice called from the doorway. "I see that you still know how to slap down impertinent underlings, my dear. Go and get that bottle of Burgundy that I ordered, lad." The server nodded at the dapper older man and left hurriedly.

"And I see that you still enjoy watching a woman do all of the work." Cassie rose from her chair went to meet him halfway. The other girls also came to their feet. "It's good to see you again Charles."

He took her hand and raised it to his lips. "It's good to see you to Cassandra. Who are your friends? You were very vague about this little meeting of yours." He smiled intimately at the other girls. Molly felt her knees weaken when his eyes met hers. Serena frankly gaped. Even Amy was lifted far enough out of her depression to feel the stirring of hormones. Charles was tall with dark hair graying at the temples. In fact he looked very much like Pierce Brosnan, only his eyes were the same deep green color as Susan's hair.

Cassie laughed softly as Charles led her back to her seat at the table. "I'm sorry about that, my friend. But I thought that you might decline to come if you knew who I was bringing with me."

"More and more mysterious. I'm here now, so why don't you introduce me?" Cassie noted that Charles was careful to keep his chair far enough from the table in order to be able to get up quickly if necessary. She smiled wryly. He didn't trust even her far enough to automatically trust those she brought with her. She met his eyes and nodded, glad that he was, as always, on duty. Twenty-five thousand years of clandestinely directing society's direction would be enough to make anyone a permanent paranoid.

"Sir Charles, Lord Charon, Knight Protector of Pluto," the man tensed immediately on hearing his formal titles, his eyes turning as hard as stone as he stared in disbelief at Cassandra. She hurried on before he could do something foolish or at least foolhardy, like say, putting a dagger through the throats of her friends. "I would like you to meet Serena Tsukino, currently Sailor Moon and formerly Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom; Molly Baker, formerly majordomo to Princess Serenity, and Amy Mizuno, Sailor Mercury and formerly Princess of Mercury." Charles relaxed visibly when he realized that his secret hadn't been revealed to those who would endanger his princess, his beloved Susan.

"I am pleased to finally meet you, Your Highness," he said as he took Serena's hand and bowed over it. "And you too, Sailor Mercury." He nodded to the blue-haired girl before turning to Molly. "I didn't know that you had be reawakened yet, milady. Welcome to our little group." He took the dazzled redhead's hand and kissed the back of it.

Soft laughter echoed through the opulent dining room. "If you are quite finished charming everyone, could we perhaps move on to something else?" Cassie asked.

"Of course," Charles drawled as he led the way back to the table and held a chair for Serena, who sat down with much more than her usual grace. The man moved around the table, seating each of his lady guests. "Why are you in such a hurry Cassandra?" he asked as he held her chair.

The mirth that had danced in her eyes earlier faded away, "I have my reasons, milord." Charles stiffened almost imperceptibly at the unexpected formality. It was very much out of character for Cassie to address him in such a manner. As he moved to his own chair, the server returned with the wine. Cassie bantered lightly with him and flirted with the server while making sure that the other three girls were served non-alcoholic drinks, while she herself accepted the excellent wine. She quietly drank the entire goblet and refilled it by the time that the server had served the others and withdrew with their dinner orders. Charles's eyes narrowed, this time in concern, for drinking so heavily was also very uncharacteristic. Charles was becoming very concerned about the young woman. He knew her probably the best of almost anyone alive. He had known her when she was the supremely self-confidant, always calm, always in control Princess of Athena during the Silver Millennium. He had also watched her carefully since the time of her rebirth and had kept an especially close eye on her since her reawakening. Something was definitely wrong with her; it concerned him that he didn't know what it was. Perhaps Pluto would know.

"You were saying that you had your reasons, Cassandra, before we were interrupted," Charles said, sliding his words silkily in between Molly and Serena's chattering conversation concerning the elegance of the restaurant. The younger girls fell silent as Cassie downed the last of her second glass of wine and held out the goblet for a refill. Charles hesitated to pour her more of the ruby liquid, but flicker of bared steel in her eyes prompted him to do as she requested.

Cassie stared into her now filled goblet for a moment before answering. "We need information, Charles." She turned cold, emotionless eyes on him, "We need information about the Knight Protectors."

Charles sat back, startled by both the unexpected request and by the look in Cassie's gray eyes. "Why? Can't the dead be left in peace?"

"He's not dead," a strained voice answered. Amy was shaking with the effort to keep control of her emotions. She had spent the past two days both longing for and dreading this moment, the time when she would find out about the young man who she had fallen in love with on sight, and who now was her enemy.

"Who? Who's not dead?" Charles grated. This was even more unexpected than the request for information. He had been certain that the other Knight Protectors were dead and gone. He had looked for them when the children of the Moon had begun being reborn, but had not found a trace of them. Even Pluto had not been able to find them and so had assumed that they were dead for too long before Queen Serenity's sacrifice to have been saved. A dry little voice in the back of his head noted that this would be a good thing to tease his wife about when she tried to assume her 'mysterious guardian of time' demeanor with him again.

"Greg," Amy whispered.

"MacGregor, Lord Hermes," Molly clarified.

Charles stared down at the tablecloth, "Mac? Alive? How can that be?"

"We don't know," Molly said taking control of the conversation, just as he remembered her doing on the Moon. She was always the one to move meetings along, to organize and keep her Princess going in a forward direction. His lips twitched as a mental image of the chaos that would have reined around the impulsive Moon Princess without her majordomo to quietly handle the millions of little problems that sprang up around her. "We know that Greg was one of the Rainbow Crystal Carriers. He might have survived simply because of that, but Raye did a fire reading last night and saw five male figures, one of whom was Hermes. She is sure that the other four are also Knight Protectors. But that is not the worst part and why we came here looking for some answers." Molly took and deep breath and glanced over at Amy's pale face before continuing. "You see, Hermes is working for the Enemy. He is a Negaverse General."

Charles nodded slowly, "And you think that the others could also show up as enemies and you want to know about them before hand." Molly and Serena nodded. Amy just stared at him, begging him with her eyes to tell her something, anything about Hermes. "I don't know that I should tell you anything. I try to stay out of these things, especially when I haven't talked to Pluto about it. She knows a great deal more than I about when and where to reveal things."

"Charles," Cassie said softly, "We don't want you to mess up the time stream or anything like that, but a little background could save lives, either ours or theirs. Would you want to see one of the Scouts forced to kill her Knight?"

"Of course not, but…"

"Sir Charles," Serena laid a gently hand on his arm, "please."

The older man sighed. He looked around the table at the young faces focused on him, from Serena's gentle smile, to Molly's suppressed excitement, to the pleading in Amy's eyes, and finally to Cassie, her face locked into a neutral, emotionless mask. "Alright, I can't resist all of you."

"Yahooooo!" Serena squealed and clapped her hands excitedly, just as their dinner arrived. Molly and Amy covered their eyes with their hands, as if denying that they knew the flamboyant blonde. Cassie's face softened into a slight smile. Charles shook his head in amusement. After the servers had retreated to a safer location and shut the door to the private dining room, Charles regained everyone's attention.

"I'll tell you a little about the Knight Protectors, but not much, just a short description and their names. The names will probably not be of much use to you, since they have undoubtedly changed, just as yours have."

"What do you mean? My name hasn't changed!" Serena protested.

Charles smiled at her indignant expression, "Your names are all different from the ones used during the Silver Millennium: Serena instead of Serenity, Molly instead of Melinda. In fact, the names you have now are more or less your nicknames from the past. But anyway…" Amy quietly pulled out her mini-computer and set it to record as Charles thought back twenty-five thousands years to his counterparts, his companions-at-arms, his friends.

"I'll start at the Outer Planets and work my way in.

Neptune: Princess Michiru's Knight Protector was Dame Elisia, Lady Poseidon. She retired from the position almost five years before Beryl's attack. She was very close to Sir Mikhail, Lord Titan, and Knight Protector of Uranus. When he was killed stopping an assassin from trying to kill Princess Alexia of Uranus and Princess Michiru of Neptune, she couldn't bear to go on. Michiru released her from her duties and Elisia went to the Moon and accepted a commission in the Silver Army as a weapons instructor. After that, Neptune and Uranus refused to appoint replacement Knight Protectors, saying that they would guard each other.

Princess Venessa of Saturn was too young to have appointed a Knight Protector when the Silver Alliance fell. That takes care of the Outer Guard. Except for me, there are no Knight Protectors left from the Outer Planets.

The next planet would be Jupiter. The Knight Protector of Jupiter was a tall, red headed Earthling by the name of Tomacite. He was a very distant cousin of Beryl's and couldn't stand the sight of her," Charles shook his head and laughed softly, "Tom was about the most stubborn man I've ever known. He was also the only one beside Alexia who could beat Princess Carlita in hand to hand combat. I think that is what won her over. He was a first sergeant in the Silver Army stationed on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter when he met Carlita. He said something that made her mad and they got in a fight. It was love at first throw." Charles paused, staring into space for a moment before continuing. "Sir Tomacite's weapon of choice was a lightning spear."

"Princess Cassandra of Athena's Knight Protector was Sir Antony, Lord Minerva. He was Saturnese with the gift of healing. He was a fine swordsman and welded that blade of his like it was simply an extension of his arm." Charles glanced at Cassie before continuing. She showed no emotion, not hope, not dread, nothing. Charles felt the icy stirrings of real fear, but could think of nothing to do to allay it.

"Lord Ares of Mars was the best tactician to come out of the warrior planet in generations. Thaddeus also was about the only man I know of that could not only put up with Princess Reika but could better her in an explosion of temper. When he pushed that shaggy mop of brown hair out his eyes, you knew that a volcano was about to go off. Thad's weapon of choice was a broad sword. He also commanded fire even before becoming the Knight Protector of Mars and could send mental messages to some people, especially those that were already sensitive to psychic power.

"The Knight Protector of Venus was a young Athenian by the name of Christaphin. Lord Eros was a brother of Princess Cassandra. The Athenian royal family was quite large, and all five of the boys were in the military. Christaphin was the best shot with a long bow in the whole of the Silver Alliance."

Charles paused again and looked at Amy for the first time since starting his narrative. "Lord Hermes, known as Mac to his friends, was a brilliant engineer. He could convert almost anything that Princess Miriami of Mercury could come up with to practical applications. He was from Pluto and used his limited precognitive ability as a way to protect his princess and others. He could sense attacks and could move to intercept them almost before the attacker could react. He used daggers primarily. He could throw them, or use his small size and nimbleness to slip inside an opponent's guard to attack weak points in armor."

Charles stood up from the table and looked down at the girls. "That is all I can in good conscience tell you without first consulting with Pluto." He glanced at his watch. "I need to be going now. Please finish you dinner and feel free to order anything else you would like." He bowed to the startled teenagers and turned to leave. Cassie followed him as he was half hoping she would. The pair stopped outside and stared at each other for a long moment before Charles asked, "Cassie what's wrong? You have not been acting like yourself." He cupped her face in his hand and forced her to continue to meet his eyes. "Even you should have shown some reaction to finding out about the man you were once madly in love with."

Cassie sighed and closed her eyes for a second. "To tell you the truth, I really don't want to know anything about my former fiancee. I have found someone in this life, someone who I love very much, and I don't want to have to deal with amorous former loves."

"That is understandable, but it doesn't explain why you were hitting the wine so hard tonight. That's not like you."

The girl sighed and pulled out his reach. "I know. I've just been having this feeling of looming doom ever since Hermes first appeared. I've tried to ignore it, truly I have, but I am about at my wits end." She wrapped her arms around her body and shivered. "It's like someone is focused on me, brooding over me."

"Do you think that you're sensing something that might happen?" Charles asked softly.

Cassie shook her head, "No, I'm not precognitive, never have been, never will be. That is one ability that I do not wish to have. Raye and Michelle are welcome to it." She forced herself to relax, pulling on a façade of normalcy. "Anyways, I should get back to the girls and let you go on your way. Oh, could you get this to Susan for me; it's those encryption keys that she wanted." She pulled a pair of CD-ROM's out of thin air and handed them to the older man. She smiled brilliantly and waved him off when he would have asked for more details. "Goodbye Charles. I'll see you later."

He watched as she went back into the private dining room in a swirl of silken skirts. His dark green eyes were shadowed as he walked out of the restaurant after making sure that the matre'd would supply his guests with anything they wished. The cold October wind ruffled his dark hair as he stepped out onto the street. A lady in a business suit and long hair that glinted green in the light of the streetlamps met him as he walked further into downtown Tokyo.

The lady took his arm and matched his stride seamlessly. "What was that all about, my love?" she asked.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Don't you know already? I thought you kept track of all of my clandestine love affairs."

She laughed softly at his coy tone. It was an old joke between the pair. "Oh, was it one of those again?"

Charles sighed heavily. "I wish it had been one of those. Cassandra brought the Princess, Mercury, and Lady Melinda to meet me."

"Hmmm. I hadn't anticipated that." The Time Guardian's eyes narrowed as she considered the possible effects on the timeline. "Why did Cassie do such a thing? She wouldn't normally do such a thing without at least telling us what she planned."

"I know. And that's not all. They wanted information on the Knight Protectors."

Susan pulled her husband to a stop. "Why would they wish to know about them?"

"Mercury claims that MacGregor is alive and that she met him."

"Of course he's alive. Beryl used him as a vessel for one of the Seven Shadows." The handsome pair began walking again down the deserted street, unaware that someone was watching them with measuring eyes from the deep shadow between two high rises. "It was inevitable that he and Amy be pulled back together."

Charles nodded in agreement. "I know, but they also think that the other Knight Protectors are alive. Mars had a vision that seems to point in that direction."

"If they're right, then someone has been blocking my perceptions. That would take either a lot of power or a lot of subtlety."

"I'd say its subtlety," Charles mused, "Especially considering how long the both of us looked for the Knight Protectors. One of us would have detected someone using strong-arm methods to hide the Protectors. I always found it unsettling that we didn't even find MacGregor, who we knew was alive as a Crystal Carrier." In the shadows, someone crept closer and closer.

"This little trouble with the Negaverse is beginning to take on an entirely different meaning. First there was no trouble on the horizon and then youma crop up again. I didn't even notice it until Athena sent word."

"So much for your reputation for infallibility." Susan mock-glared at her tall husband who pretended to cringe. "Speaking of the Negaverse, that is where Amy saw Mac."

"What?"
"That new general, Hermes."

"I can't believe I didn't make that connection! Lord Hermes, General Hermes," Susan shook her head in disgust.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. I didn't connect the dots either." They walked on in silence, turning a corner and headed down a narrow side street. Their shadow followed on silent feet; something glinted silver in its hand.

After a moment, Charles continued. "Oh, before I forget, Cassie gave me a couple of CD-ROM's for you, something about encryption keys."

Susan's expression lightened. "Good. I'm surprised that she was able to get them so quickly."

"Susan," the pair stopped again, "I'm worried about Cassandra. She was acting very unlike herself." Charles gave a quick run down on Cassie's conduct, including the conversation they had had at the end of the meeting. As they talked, the shadow came closer and closer.

"Maybe you should keep a closer eye on her," Susan suggested. She held out her free hand and the Time Staff appeared in it.

"If Cassie finds out, she'll be furious," Charles objected.

"Afraid of one young girl?"

"No! Let's just say that I have a healthy respect for a young lady with a very sharp sword and no qualms about sticking me with it."

"If it assuages your male pride." Susan waved the Time Staff, summoning the Gate of Time. The huge doors opened soundlessly at her mental command. The pair walked through, still gently teasing one another. The Gate closed silently and then disappeared in a flash of light.

The footpad that had followed the seemingly easy to rob couple sat down hard on the cold pavement. "That's it. I'm going straight. These late nights are giving me acid flash backs and I never took acid!"

The Scouts now have some of the information they wanted, but how will they handle it? Find out next time in Abduction.