The room was stark and bare, all antiseptic white and shiny metal fixtures. Only one old, large, circular wooded table stood out in the almost futuristic setting. A number of men sat around the table, worried looks on their faces. The situation was bad, that was why this emergency meeting had been called.

The Guardian's Council had been assembled.

The man sitting at what would be called the "leadership position" kept his fingers folded together and stared stoically straight ahead. "What is our current situation?" he asked in a deep baritone.

A nervous aide stepped forward, facing the assembled Council. "As you know, a number of charges, a group of girls known as The Otaku have gathered together."

"Damn," a Guardian with pink hair said. "Is the Game starting already?"

"Yes," the aide said. "We have the identities of all of the girls, and their... Guardians. This information was hard to obtain. Many Bothans died in the process."

The Guardians nodded and faced the large screen hanging in the room. Pairs of pictures began to appear as the aide called off statistics. "First is Keisuke no Otaku, Meredith aka Rapath, and her Guardian Zeke."

"Zeke's good. Very loyal. A bit young, but he'll be able to handle it."

Another pair of pictures replaced the first. "Kristsi, Otaku status unknown, and her Guardian Kell."

"My god, who ever paired those two up?!? They'll end up killing each other!"

Picture replacement. "Chichiri no Otaku, Anaera, and her Guardian Orpheus."

The room shuddered at the sight of the Council's only gay Guardian.

Picture replacement. "Hotohori no Otaku, Remy and her Guardian P-man aka P-kun. Uh, she's having Snapple issues."

"Snapple issues? What the hell are Snapple issues?"

"Um, I don't know, sir. That's all the information I had. Here's where it gets weird." Picture replacement. "Nakago no Otaku, Nyx aka Victoria. Her Guardian Seth and her other Guardian Milton."

"Milton? What? He's not her Guardian!"

"Well Seth isn't really that good of a Guardian either," another Council member added.

"Could this get any worse?" the Leader mumbled.

The aide tugged on his collar and advanced the picture. "Hotohori no Otaku, Susanne. Her Guardian was Roger but he was removed and replaced with Christopher."

"Why was he removed?"

"For violating Policy, sir."

"Roger? Roger just put in his application for resignation."

"What are you talking about? No one resigns from the Council! Not alive, anyway."

"Which brings up Christopher," the aide continued. "This afternoon his body was found by a river bank by one of our dispatch teams."

"He's dead? How?"

"Uh... uh..." the aide muttered a silent prayer and continued. "His kneecaps were shot out from a distance and then he was shot straight between the eyes."

"Oh, gods... no..."

"That's... that's..."

"*His* calling card..."

"But it's the wrong girl!"

"Could we have a copycat in the Council?" the Leader asked.

"No, sir. This was found on the body." The aide handed the Leader a slip of paper and a projection of it appeared on the screen. All of the Council members paled as they recognized the handwriting and the message.

"No. Don't tell me that--"

The picture advanced to show a picture of a girl familiar to the Council. The quite recent picture showed her locked in a passionate embrace with a familiar silver-haired man. "Ts--Tsuki--Tsukino... Ce--Celeste... Otaku status unknown... and her Gu--Guardian Dionysus..." the aide's voice trembled.

The room went completely silent.

Then there was the sound of thudding. Everyone in the Council turned to see another silver-haired man banging his head repeatedly on the table top.

"Baka." Thud. "Baka." Thud. "Baka." Thud. "Baka." Thud.

"Do you have to say anything about this, Guardian?" the Leader asked the silver-haired man.

The man stopped banging his head and looked up, brushing his waist-length silver hair out of the way. "You bet I have something to say about this. Did you really think my brother was going to let her go without a fight? It's obvious to see what's happening here."

"Would you care to enlighten us?" the Leader said dryly.

"Not a problem. The Game is obviously taking a very nasty and unexpected twist. I think we should try to stay out of this until we get all the information. And getting that information will be nearly impossible."

"And why do you say that?" a Council member interrupted. "We have our sources, too! What can be keeping us out?"

"The Otaku themselves. Those girls are a real handful and shouldn't be underestimated. Besides, Celeste's network is *everywhere*. The SERA system sees all and knows all. We have no chance of hacking into it. We don't want to make enemies of the Otaku."

"How do you know so much about the Otaku and Celeste?"

The silver-haired man glared at the younger member. "Gods, do you really have to ask that? How did you even pass the Guardian's testing?"

"Stop this instant!" the Leader roared, forestalling the argument. He turned to the younger member first. "You should know what his connection to this crisis is, Councilmember." He turned to the silver-haired man. "And you, Artemis. You need to step back from this situation. We all know Dionysus is your brother, so you particularly need to stay out of this."

"Good. I'm taking an early vaction then," Artemis said, standing up. "I don't want to be a part of what this Council is going to do in this situation. I know that the Policy is being majorly screwed up by the Game, but there's no way you're going to get me to go against my brother. Consider me out of this situation. Luna wants me to take some time off anyway."

Artemis left the room without even a backward glance. The rest of the Council let out a sigh of relief though the tension in the room was still high.

"So what are our options?" the Leader asked the Council.

"I agree with Guardian Artemis, sir," a Councilmember spoke up. "We need to stay out of the Game until we get all the facts straight. Besides, after the Game is over we can deal with the Guardians then."

"I second that."

The Leader nodded. "All in favor?"

"Ayes," rang across the table.

"All opposed?"

Silence.

"Any absentations?"

Silence.

"Then we are agreed. We will stay out of the Game as much as possible, and deal with the consequences later."

"What about Guardian Roger, sir? He violated Policy, was suspended, and then resigned. What do we do with him? We don't want another Dionysus running around."

"I've decided to reinstate him to his position as Hotohori no Otaku, Susanne's Guardian. With him reinststed, he won't need to resign to protect her. He will remain in the Council. No action will be taken against him."

The Council all nodded.

"Good, this meeting is adjourned then. Stay alert and all of you work to get more information on the Game. The codename will be Operation: Bishoujo. Dismissed."

The Council all left the room, the Leader ahead of them.

In the now empty room and man stepped out from the the shadows he was hiding in. He took a long look at the screen where the picture of Celeste and Dionysus was still projected. He chuckled to himself and took a long drag out of the Morley cigarette in his hand.

TBC...