Sitting at her desk watching a computer screen that had charts and graphs as well as paragraphs upon paragraphs of data, Ami was busy with her work, working harder than she ever had before. Even as the hours went past midnight, Ami was still up and at it with her data. She had gained mountains of information of the Phantom with her various methods and instruments, but had yet to go through the compilation before her. She had started soon after she woke up that morning, and though it was pushing one in the morning now she wasn't even close to finishing it.

With Serena slightly injured after her latest fight with the creature, Ami had felt the rare feeling of desperation coming from in her heart. She had always tried to tackle a problem like a school test, be calm and take it slowly, but with the Phantom that method was not working. He had no rules to follow that she could capitalize on nor takes advantage of, and with her friends dropping one by one she had the feeling that whatever she could find could be helpful.

And thanks to some coffee as well as that determination she had managed to keep herself concentrated, even though Luna had been with her after visiting Serena and told her to have a fresh start in the morning. Ami felt she needed to keep working, for the sake of her friends.

The data was on the larger screen on her desk, and Ami kept a strict eye on anything that was more than a little unique, anything that could possibly expose the Phantom...

The following morning, Serena felt well enough to actually try to move. Other than a small trip and fall through the doorway she was able to walk fine, smelling something good coming from the kitchen.

"Breakfast..." she said as her stomach growled loudly. She remembered that she hadn't eaten anything since the night before due to circumstances beyond her control. Making her way to the kitchen, she saw that Rei and Darien were making a rather huge breakfast, made to accommodate the six people that were in the house. "Morning everyone."

Darien was the first to acknowledge her presence, "Hi Serena. You sleep well?"

Walking rather gingerly, Serena came to sit at the table, unable to bend her back as it felt like it was in a splint, "As best as I could get, you know without being able to roll around..."

Rei set a plate full of waffles on the table, "Well, we're making more than enough for everyone, so have as much as you like."

Serena nodded once, but noticed the emptiness of the room. "Where's everyone else?"

"Michelle and Amara had to run to the store for me, we were out of sausage and they volunteered to go get some. They should be back any minute. As for Lita, she went to see if Mina is alright. She called a little bit ago," Rei said, sitting down at the table.

"And how is she doing?"

Rei shook her head slowly, "Her condition hasn't changed."

This brought her fragile state back, and Serena hated it, "I see."

The dour mood in the room was thankfully shaken by the arrival of Amara and Michelle with the groceries they had bought. Michelle went and sat down next to Serena, "Glad to see you're awake Serena. Hope what I did for you last night helped."

The smile that Michelle gave Serena made her shiver, remembering the pain she had gone through during that procedure made her wince just remembering it, "Uh yeah, I think it did..."

Breakfast went by quickly, least the eating portion of it did, and true to the belief Rei had about Serena's appetite, she ate most of the pancakes she had made.

But then things got down to business in a hurry after that, and it was Amara who brought it up. "So, now that the Phantom knows we're here, when will we take it down?"

Darien took a drink of water, "Last night was the first time we tried to actually fight him, and I was not expecting he'd be so powerful."

"I wasn't there, but from what I heard he really messed you guys up," Rei said.

Serena didn't answer, but Darien answered for her, "We tried, but not a scratch. He even took Uranus' attack and just brushed it off."

"No, I got him in the arm. He looked hurt," Amara said quickly, remembering the damage her attack had done. The Phantom's arm had been burnt and from the signs she had seen it bothered him. "He may shrug it off but in the end we hurt him."

"Sounds like we're dealing with a tank than a monster," Michelle said, sitting on Amara's lap.

"And until Ami lets us know anything she gathered from last night, we're going to be stuck in the dark," Serena said, and her heart ached. "How are we going to fight something like this?"

Sudden burst of frustration came from Rei and she slammed her fist on the table, surprising everyone, including Luna who was asleep on the floor. "This is just so, so, stupid! We're the Sailor Scouts, the guardians of the earth and we're getting pushed around by a freak!"

Silence was in the air, and everyone knew why. From the infamous Queen Beryl to the Heart-Snatchers, from the Dark Moon Circus to the forces of Queen Galaxia, the Scouts had fought every opponent thrown at them and had triumphed through to victory despite all the hardships they were forced to endure to achieve it, and yet this one mysterious creature was getting under their skin the most. Two of their number were unable to fight and another seriously injured, not to mention Serena being injured herself that made up almost half their current number. Not a good score right now.

"So...how are we going to handle this thing?" Serena asked, resting her hands on her lap. She was open to ideas, and any would do right now.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Everyone turned to see Ami standing in the doorway, and Rei stood up, "Ami!"

"I should've knocked first, but I figured that the situation calls for a bit of impoliteness," she said, gasping for breath.

"Please tell me you got something from last night," Serena said, hoping for some good news.

"Well, I could've called and told you what I found but..." she set her lap top on the table, "Being as scientific as it is I thought it'd be better if I came and explained it in person."

Rei agreed, "Good idea, especially with Serena it'd go through one ear and out the other."

Serena nearly blew a gasket, "Hey! I graduated in the top half of my class, thank you very much!"

"Anyway Ami, what did you find?" Darien asked, hoping to avoid an argument between the two scouts at the table.

"Sorry to say, I didn't find anything linking the Phantom to the Negaverse, or even to Queen Galaxia." She typed in some keys and a couple charts came up, "I'll skip the real technical specifics, but I did find one thing about him that is interesting, at least to me." She pointed to a chart with multiple bars, and rewound the playback feature on said chart. "See here? This is where he tortured Serena in front of Darien." She hit the play button, and the bars went up sharply and didn't try to go down, then the bars started to go down sharply to less than the halfway point, "And here is where it hits the lowest point in the whole battle."

Darien spoke, "He tried to make me give up in exchange for Serena's life, and when I was willing to do so he said he'd go on doing it anyway because he said he enjoyed the suffering of others. But Ami, what do you think this means?"

Ami shook her head, "I'm not sure, but I'll look into it some more."

"In the mean time I think we should make a trap for this freak," Rei said, "And I'll be involved this time."

"Rei, you're still hurt," Darien said, mentioning the burns from last time. "You should just stay home-"

Michelle spoke calmly, "No need to worry too much Darien. Rei's burns aren't as bad thanks to me. She should be fine now."

That's a relief, Serena thought, but the problem was still apparent. "What kind of trap will he fall for? I mean we lured him out last time just by pure luck, and now that he knows we're after him he won't be so gullible."

And for this, no one had an answer.

I made Michelle a nurse because I wasn't sure what she would do in her civilian life but I think it worked out okay. Also this chapter is short because it would have been dragged on exposition, and trust me nothing is more boring than too much exposition. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this and wait for the next chapter.