Jusenkyo Productions Proudly Presents
A Bubblegum Crisis, The Crow Cross Over
Forever the Knight
(Bubblegum Crisis is owned by Artmic and Youmex Inc. unless you live in a country other than Japan, in which case its AnimEigo. The Crow was written by James O'Barr, one of the few people to truly write about the darkness of the human soul. I do not own any of them and hope that they'll forgive me and let me play in their worlds. ***WARNING!!!*** This fic contains some graphic descriptions of violence, and rape. Not enough that it is a lemon, but if such things offend you, or you are a minor, please read something else. This fic is dark, and is meant to BE dark.)
(Historian's Note: This takes place two years after the events in Bubblegum Crash!)
When you die, according to the old legends, your soul is carried to heaven by a crow. But sometimes it makes a return trip. Unfinished business tugs at people, tragedy enrages people, and revenge is a dish best served cold. There is nothing colder than the soul of the dead.
There is a boil on the face of the planet. It glows with lights, glitters in the night, but the darkness is its true mistress. MegaTokyo, the self-proclaimed phoenix that rose from the ashes of the Second Great Kanto Earthquake, a city that is the showcase for the latest in technologies, the home of GENOM Ltd. and of the rouge mercenary band called the Knight Sabers. But that fast paced world of light is not one that most of the people living in it would know. They see the real MegaTokyo, the dark alleys, the places where even a fully armored squad of AD Police wouldn't go. This is the dark MegaTokyo, the whore that laps at GENOM's feet for spare crumbs. The people who own the land here are those with the deadliest weapon at any given time. Of course they report to their GENOM masters.
2036:
She comes down the street, normally an unescorted woman would be asking for trouble, but not this one. A dim streetlight, one of the few that are not broken into hundreds of shards, reflects its weak light off of the white armor. Saber White, Knight One, the press has many names for the leader of the Knight Sabers. No one knows what she calls herself, for no one knows just who the Knight Sabers are. All three remain a mystery.
As she passes by, the gangs pull back into the shadows. They are unwilling to test their luck against armor that regularly trashes boomers. They let her pass, there will be time enough to claim the street again.
She pauses by the entrance to an old building, the name of the place long since lost to the winds and times, and lays something on the sidewalk. A bottle of something, wrapped in blue, and a pair of sunglasses. She stands there quietly, almost reverently, then jumps to the rooftops. A few seconds later, she's gone. Minutes go by, the darkness claims the street once more, the objects left are claimed as well. There is nothing left to mark the spot that seemed so important to her.
Out of the darkness another figure emerges. It's cloaked in black, and nothing can be made of its face. It too stands at the spot, looking up as if it could still see the figure in the white armor. It looks down again and places one hand to the road, as if drawing strength, or pain. It straitens slowly to look once more at the sky. The sound of wings announces the presence of a crow that lands next to the figure.
'It won't help you know, you can't go back to them.'
"Sylia," the figure whispers.
'I said, you can't go back. You do remember why you're here, don't you?'
The voice cracks in pain, "Leon."
The crow nods to itself and flies off. The figure melts back into the darkness.
2035:
The sound of twin motorcycles breaks the deadly silence of the night. The people ridding them do not notice, or would even care if they did. To them, the entire world has shrunk down to the race that they are in. On some unseen signal, they pull to a stop. The one on the red bike pulls off her helmet and grins at the other has he pulls of his.
"Damn it Leon, I always told ya you are too slow," she says.
Leon tries to look cool, but his goofy grin gives him away. Finally he leans over to her and says suggestively, "But I thought you LIKED it slow, Priss."
Priss pulls back in mock anger, "Why you, you, you� Take this!"
She lashes out and grabs him, pulling him close for a kiss.
"Mmmm, I could get use to this kind of argument, " Leon says, "Of course I suppose I will have to, ne Priss-chan?"
Priss lowered her eyes a bit; looking at the ring that is always on her finger, even when she is in her hardsuit. Her grin gets wider, it could even be called a smile, "Uh-huh, Leon-CHAN!"
Leon winced a bit.
"Linna's complaining that she's going to get cavities from us," she said.
"Oh? And what do the others think?" Leon asked.
"Well Nene thinks it's sweet. Of course she's so wrapped up in Mackie�"
Leon chuckled, "I know, Daley yelled at her for ten minutes a few days ago. I don't think she heard him. When he finally got her attention, all she said was 'Yes, Mackie?'"
"� And as for Sylia? Who knows," Priss concluded.
Leon chuckled again; "Well she hasn't evoked rule 11 yet."
"I should have never taken my helmet off."
"Ah, but then you'd have fun trying to come up with good excuses why you need to leave early on our dates."
"Why'd I need an excuse? Besides, I see you there anyway," Priss said.
Leon pulled her close this time, "I know," he said.
"And because you don't try to protect me is why I happen to love you," Priss replied, drawing him in even closer.
"Because you're always there is why I�"
Time seemed to slow, Priss saw the expression of surprise on Leon's face a split second before she felt the heavy object collide with the back of her neck. She heard, more than she felt the wet snap. And didn't feel herself falling to the street. But she did feel, or rather didn't, the spreading numbness. A second later, Leon's face exploded from the exit of a bullet.
"Leon!" Priss cried weakly.
Her vision darkened to just a tunnel, focussing on the ruins of Leon's face. There wasn't much left to identify the person to whom she was just talking with, the lover who had been sharing her bed for about a year. Just redness, with flecks of white from the fragmented bones.
"L.. Leon," she cried again. She wanted to pull herself to him, to hold him as he had her so many times before. But she couldn't get her body to work. Then the voices started.
"Oh yeah! Hot bikes man, real hot chick. Hey! Wana party with us?"
"Course she does, who wouldn't want to party with us?"
Shoes appeared in front of her face. Priss couldn't move to look up at their owners.
One of them bent down to roughly search Leon's body.
'A.. a kid?' Priss thought. 'We've faced down rampaging boomers and Largo, twice! to be taken down by a kid?'
"Oh shit!" the kid said, "Hey Fox! The fucker's a cop! ADP man."
"Oh man, we're in such deep shit now!" Another said.
"Can it! ADP don't even come here. Hell, they're too busy getting killed by boomers and watching the bitches fight."
One of the shoes kicked what was left of Leon's head. The shoe made sort of a squishy sound as it impacted.
"That's what I think of the AD Police!" he said triumphantly.
'I will not cry, I will not scream, I will NOT give these bastards that satisfaction,' Priss thought to herself.
The one called Fox used his foot to turn her head to face him. He was young, impossibly young. "You an ADP bitch too?" he asked.
Priss didn't answer, just burned his face into memory.
"Naw man, I recognize her, she's whatshername, Priss. Ya know Fox, that singer?"
Fox leaned in close, "Why I do believe you're right, Tetsuo, I've always wanted to find out if what they say about fucking rock stars is true.
He pulled out his knife and sliced down the side of her biking leathers. Priss didn't even feel it. Didn't feel the blade of the knife, not the gash in her side, or the blood that was spilt. Only the rocking motions of her head told her when he started to trust into her.
'I will not cry, I will NOT!'
They took their turns, playfully laughing at one another. Priss burned their names and faces, so she would know who to curse, whom to hunt, whom to kill.
Fox, Tetsuo, Ryu, Gendou, Laughing Boy, Top Dog, all of them would die for what they had done to Leon.
She heard Laughing Boy giggle, "Hey looky, looky! Looks like our playmate was going to get hitched."
Priss saw him slide off her ring, roll it over in his hands, and then hold it up to the others.
"Well who was it?" Fox asked her. He looked over to where Leon's corpse was, "Methinks it was the ADP dude. Well we can't separate the two now can we?"
They moved out of her sight, desperately she tried to move something, anything, but nothing moved. The gang reappeared, dragging Leon. They stripped him of his clothes and threw him on top of her. Priss felt wetness and smelt a coppery sent. What was left of Leon's face rested against her cheek.
"Nope, have to have one last fling for the future couple," Fox said. The gang surrounded her now. Pressing her face against Leon's. Moving the two of them like marionettes. She felt, she FELT when they maneuvered the both of them so that Leon entered her. That's when she started screaming. She didn't stop until Top Dog stuck a gun between her lips and pulled the trigger.
2036:
The Crow knelt in the darkened trailer like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She was remembering, remembering it all. Tonight, tonight the darkness would be the enemy to her enemy. It had been a year, it was time.
She stood up, drawing the darkness around her like a cloak. On her shoulder settled a black crow.
'Good luck kid.'
The Crow moved into the night, seeking her targets.
Top Dog loved fast cars and big guns. Most said he would have made a good ADP officer, some knew he had been kicked out of the AD Police. But that was OK with Top Dog, boomers didn't scream when you shot them. And the ADP never allowed him to grab any loot.
The night saw him driving through one of the bay shore neighborhoods. One of the few that hadn't been developed yet. One of the middlemen had asked him to have a little fun there. GENOM was discovering that hoodlums were cheaper than boomers and were much harder to trace.
So far he managed to score 50 points hitting three cats, one homeless bum with a cart, and a jogger. The roar of a motorcycle came up behind him.
'Fucking awesome! 100 points!' he thought to himself.
The biker sped past him, flipping him off as well as shattering the windshield with a hockey stick.
"What the fuck�? OK, he's toast!" Top Dog yelled. He sped up, running the biker down. Getting just behind him, he pulled out a shotgun that was resting on the seat beside him and fired.
The biker merely turned his head and shook his finger at him.
"No way did I miss! No fucking way!"
Top Dog fired off another shot. The biker responded by tossing the stick at him like a spear. It connected, and went though his shoulder, pinning him to his seat.
Somehow he brought his car to a stop, the roar of the bike stopped as well. Then he heard the sounds of someone walking towards him in the darkness. Top Dog grabbed his Earthshaker. It had enough punch to stop a boomer; it would kill whoever did this. He never missed.
The figure came from the shadows, dressed in black bikers' leathers. Top Dog was surprised to note that he was a she. Then he saw her face. It was white, painted like a clown. But not a circus clown, but the ones that made people scared of clowns, the ones that haunted your darkest nightmares.
"So what are you dressed up for?" he asked.
She just smiled.
"Laugh this one off ya bitch!" he screamed and fired all three rounds into her face.
The smoke cleared, the girl was still grinning.
She reached over and snapped the stick off, splintering it in his arm. Top Dog screamed.
"Looks like you don't win the grand prize, but I'll let you have the booby," she said and drove the other end into his gut. "Where's Laughing Boy?" she asked.
"W� who?" Top Dog gasped.
She twisted the stick, he screamed, "Laughing Boy, about 5'9, giggles all the time. You know him."
"He, he� I don't know!"
"That's not the answer I want to hear Top Dog," she almost purred, and twisted the stick some more.
"The� the Tower, he's been hanging at a bar called the Tower," Top Dog forced out.
"Good boy, good dog. You may get a treat," she said, "I'll kill you quickly."
"Why are� are you doing this?"
"Do you remember Top Dog? A couple you killed a year ago in Timex City?" she asked.
"N� no, wait� Oh Fuck! No way, you can't be, I killed you, I KILLED YOU!"
The Crow pulled the hockey stick out, ignoring the splatter of blood, or the stench of Top Dog's bowels.
"I know you did," she said, and then quite calmly shoved what was left of the stick through his head.
"Sudden death," she noted.
'That was bad Priss, that was really bad.'
The crow alighted on her shoulder again.
'Where to next?'
The Crow swung her eyes to the imposing dark monolith that was GENOM Tower.
******************************************************************************
2034:
"It's bad enough, Leon, that Nene tricks me into going out on a date with you, but did you have to take me to a bar called the Tower?"
The Tower was NOT what you would call a nice bar; Priss had played there a few times when she was first getting started. It was a broken down, duct tape and baling wire sort of place. It's only claim to fame was large windows that had an unobstructed view of GENOM Tower. Not a sight that Priss liked.
Leon shrugged, "Sometimes I like coming here, helps remind me why I'm fighting. In a way, I'm sort of surprised that you don't show up here as well."
"Leon, you said you'd feed me lunch, not riddles," Priss reminded him.
Leon looked at her directly, straight into her eyes, "Priss, I know."
Priss felt herself clench, getting ready to fight, or flight.
Leon sat back a bit, "I just wanted to say thank you, for everything."
Priss relaxed, just a bit. "You're, you're welcome, Leon."
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2036:
"The Tower," The Crow said, and sped off into the night.
Laughing Boy was aptly named, he was always high on some drug or another, and spent most of his time giggling at nothing. There was a time when one of the others called him Joker, after some gajin manga character. He stopped after Laughing Boy shot him.
When The Crow walked into the Tower, Laughing Boy was entraining himself by playing darts.
"Please man! Stop!" the kid who was pinned to the target begged.
Laughing Boy giggled like a hyena, "Nope, not until I get a bull's eye."
He tossed; there was a thunk and the kid screamed.
"Oopps," Laughing Boy giggled again, "I guess I aimed too low."
The bartender looked up when The Crow entered. Her getup really didn't surprise him. He was used to seeing some strange people where he worked. She was not even among the top 100 strange sights he had seen that night.
Laughing Boy giggled, "It's a clown! Say, are you Ronald McDonald?"
The Crow shook her head, "Try again Laughing Boy?"
Laughing Boy paused to consider her a moment. Something wasn't quite right. Then the drug of his choice as well as his implants kicked in.
"I know! I know!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"Do you now?" The Crow asked.
"Yeah, you're one of them street mimes. Can you do that thing with the box?"
The Crow smiled, "Nope, wrong again."
"Then who the fuck are you?" he asked.
"Death."
Laughing Boy flung one of the darts at her. She caught it and tossed it back, it bounced off his arm.
"Now what do we have here? A boomeriod?" The Crow asked.
Laughing Boy started to laugh, "Yup that's me. I'm really Largo!"
Something flickered across The Crow's face for a second. Not long enough for anyone to notice it.
"Largo? I don't think so. I wonder what would happen if I remove your implants, one by one?"
"Jesus bitch, I'M not that crazy!" Laughing Boy responded. Then he tried to shoot her.
Faster than the eye could move, The Crow was next to him, and tearing the arm that held the gun out of its socket. Laughing Boy looked at the arm with its trailing wires dumbly.
"Looks like you'll need to get a better warranty," The Crow said.
"Jesus Fucking Christ! Someone help me, please!" Laughing Boy begged. Not one person moved.
"Hmmmm, I've always wondered just what it was that made boomers tick," The Crow said, she smiled, "I don't think that even Mackie knows.)
"Who?"
"Oh, just the person I'll be sending the spare parts to when I'm done."
Laughing Boy looked at her in horror.
"Oh, one other thing, before I start playing," she said, "I want you to remember, a year ago, in Timex City."
"Timex City?"
"Yes, a young couple, you took a ring from the girl, where is it?"
"Ring? Girl? I don't�"
The Crow sighed, "Laughing Boy, Laughing Boy, you need your memory jogged."
There was a small sound; the patrons described it to the N-Police officer as 'Like the ghost of a wind, or maybe the sound of flapping wings.' But all could see the haze of drugs in Laughing Boys eyes drain off. 'Like if someone drilled a hole in the bottom of a glass and all the water leaked out,' they said latter.
Laughing Boy began to scream.
"Much better, A year ago you took a ring from a girl in Timex City after you killed her�, killed her lover, where is it?" The Crow demanded.
"I, I think I had it put with my collection," Laughing Boy said.
The Crow looked at him with renewed interest, "Oh? And where is your collection?"
"He, it's him, he has everything put into his body," someone said.
The Crow smiled again, "Well then, I guess I really WILL get to see what makes a boomer tick."
She pulled Laughing Boy to his feet with one hand, and a large knife with the other, "Time to find out," she said.
Laughing Boy started to desperately struggle, but nothing seemed to work, "For God's sake, someone help me!" he pleaded.
"For God's sake?" The Crow asked, "For whose sake do you think I'm doing this for?" She dragged him out of the Tower, his pleas falling on deafened ears.
******************************************************************************
The Crow sat in the darkness of the trailer, turning the ring over and over in her hand. It was small; a simple gold ring with a small diamond set in it. It was the sort of ring you'd expect from a civil servant. But it wasn't the size of the diamond, or the value of the gold that made the ring so precious, but the promise it once held.
2035:
"Largo didn't faze me, nether did facing down those boomer doubles of his. Heck, Nene on chocolate doesn't scare me," Priss said.
Leon just nodded wisely.
"So why do I feel like I'm about to go into GENOM Tower without my hardsuit?"
Leon shrugged, "It could be that the Sabers are the only family you have, and everyone's nervous when it comes to bringing home and showing off their boyfriend."
Priss nodded.
"Or it just could be you're afraid that your leader's going to kill me," Leon concluded.
"Leon, don't EVEN joke about that. You don't know her, she would, if for one second she thought you'd betray us, she would."
"Well she did say for you to bring me, that does sound promising," Leon said.
"Yes, but� GOD DAMN IT! I'm acting like a scared 15 year old on her first date!" Priss complained.
Leon smiled at her, it had been a long chase, but he had finally won, hopefully, if she didn't kill him. "Don't worry, I'm sure she won't, and besides, Nene would stick a virus in her computers if she did."
"Well, I guess there isn't anything to worry about." Priss concluded reluctantly. "Oh, there's the store!"
"The Silky Doll? THIS is the headquarters of the 'Boomer Battling Babes in Battle Armor?' Leon asked incredulously.
"Well, you gotta admit, Leon, no one would look for us here," Priss replied with a laugh.
"I'll give you that, Priss," Leon said as they walked up to the entrance, he stopped at the front door.
"What's the matter?" Priss asked.
"Um, Priss? This IS a lingerie shop."
"Yeah, so?"
"I can't go in there!"
"Why not?" Priss demanded angrily, "It's just clothing. You've seen me in worse, hell, I've performed in worse!"
"Well, yes, but�," Leon tried.
"But nothing, come on!" Priss said and dragged him into the shop.
Leon tensed, waiting to be struck by lightning, or turn into a pile of ashes for violating this place. But all that happened was Mackie waved to them as they got in an elevator. As the lift acceded, he noticed something else.
"Um, Priss?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I'll need some blood going to that hand," he said.
Priss looked down to where she had Leon's hand in a death grip, "Oh, sorry," she said.
The doors opened and the two stepped out to be mobbed by Linna and Nene.
The pair kept on giggling about the fact that Priss had finally said yes to going out with Leon, and also gave some knowing winks as well. Priss reached the end of her very short fuse.
"SHUT UP!" she yelled.
The two backed off, still snickering a bit.
"Indeed," came a cool voice from across the room, "Priss and Inspector McNichol have business here."
"Leon, this is Sylia Stingray, or as you know her, Saber One," Priss said.
Sylia put down her cup of tea and advanced across the room. Her face held no emotion; her eyes betrayed no secrets. She stopped right in front of Leon and waited.
Leon snapped to attention and saluted not the sloppy half ass kind that he normally threw, but one that was parade ground perfect.
"Miss Stingray, on behalf of the MegaTokyo Advanced Police, I want to thank you and the rest of the Knight Sabers for all the times you have saved our lives," he said.
Sylia nodded, "You're welcomed Inspector, Priss said that you knew who she was?"
Leon relaxed to an 'at ease' position, "Yes, I saw her without her helmet during the DD incident."
Sylia nodded again, "She has explained our rules to you, especially the ones regarding exposing our identities, never getting involved with a man, and rule 11?"
Behind him, Leon felt Priss tense. "Yes, she has."
Sylia looked him in the eye again, "By all rights, your lives should be forfeit right now," she said, then she smiled, "But this once, I will make an exception."
Leon let out his breath explosively, "Thank you, Miss Stingray," she said.
"Sylia," she corrected.
He nodded, "Actually, I was kind of wondering what you would say to a joining of the forces of the ADP and the Knight Sabers?"
Sylia raised a brow, "In what way?"
"Well, I figured that if Priss and I get married�" he trailed off.
"Priss, you're getting married?!" Nene asked.
"What?!" Priss exclaimed, "Whoa! Hold on, you didn't ask me!" she said angrily to Leon.
"I just did," Leon replied smugly.
Priss's eyes flashed fire, then she smiled a smile that Leon was learning to dread, "Oh no, you're not getting out of it that easily. You're going to half to ask me properly, on your knees!"
Leon smiled, and got down on his knees. He fished out a small black box from his jacket and opened it. Linna gasped, for inside as a ring.
"Priss, we've faced down boomers and Largo," he started.
"Twice!" Nene and Linna chimed in.
"Three times actually," Sylia corrected softly.
"And, well, Priss I love you, will you please marry me?" he finished.
Priss pulled him up and kissed him, "Yes! Of course I will, maybe now you'll fix some of those speed violations for me."
Leon laughed, and slipped the ring onto her finger.
Sylia turned to the other Knight Sabers, "I believe I just won the bet," she said.
Priss turned to them, still holding Leon's hand, "What?"
"We had a bet going on for how long it would take Leon to ask you, and if you'd say yes," Linna explained.
Leon chuckled; Priss rounded upon him angrily.
But the hand holding hers had turned to bone, and the man who asked her to marry him was nothing more than a corpse.
******************************************************************************
2036:
'So who's the package for?'
"Mackie," The Crow said, "I thought I'd get him some spare parts to play with." On her finger, a small ring glittered.
The deaths of two hoodlums were reported in the newspapers the next morning, but neither the leader of the Knight Sabers, nor the CEO of GENOM took notice. What were two lives in MegaTokyo?
End Part One
Author's Notes:
And here you thought I was dark in 'Heaven and Earth, Light and Darkness'. This started when a friend of mine and I were talking. I had mentioned that while there were a lot of fusions and crossovers, I had never seen one done with The Crow. You'd think that there would be some, but there isn't. At first I thought of doing an Evangelion one, with Rei coming back, but the idea of The Crow with an AT Field and the ability to pilot an EVA didn't work out right. BGC fit.
Before anyone asks, I'll be working on this one along with Journal of the Ages: Ranma. It will just depend on what kind of mood I'm in when I start writing as to what fic I'll write. Thanks goes to Lin Chi, friend, roommate, and major annoyance for letting me borrow her copy of The Crow. The film ranks as one of the best I have ever seen, the comic, I feel, challenges any manga. Not even Neon Genesis Evangelion dared go where The Crow went. And of course, I will accept any forms of C&C, from death threats about my spelling, to suggestions I should seek help.
Jusenkyo Guide
---
Here sir we come to famous training ground of accursed springs
--------------------------------------------------------------
|Guide of the training grounds|Ranma 1/2, Tenchi Muyo, BGC, |
|of accursed springs, 8th |AMG, Tank Police, Gall Force, |
|Disciple of Eriond, and proud|YUA, GitS, ADP, Evangelion |
| member of the #SkAS# |Project A-ko, UY, VPM, BGC! |
|--------http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/6549 ----------------|
|Akane, Linna, Washu, Nene, |Nene showed Mackie just how |
|Skuld, Belldandy, Kiyone |much she knew. Winter Blossoms|
---------------------------Jusenkyo---------------------------
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