Twisted Path - Another Bubble Started.
A Story Inspired by Rumiko Takahashi's Ranma 1/2
and the Bubblegum Crisis
by Darren Steffler
Chapter Fifteen
---------------
The garage door opened and the van that was the Knight Sabers' mobile
command center slowly drove inside before the door closed once more. When
the van came to a complete stop a few moments passed before doors opened
and the van's armoured occupants, along with Mackie, stepped out.
"Man, those Boomers didn't put up much of a fight," Priss complained
after taking off her helmet along with the others.
"All the better, Priss," Linna said. "Still...you're right. Must've
been cheap economy models. Poor investment."
Sylia said nothing as Nene piped up to give her own opinion. "They
just can't stand up to us!" She nodded her head with conviction.
Priss gave her a sardonic glance. "_You're_ not the one fighting
them."
"Hmp!" Nene turned her head away. "I do my part. I don't see you
breaking access codes..." Her voice trailed away as she noticed her helmet,
previously nestled in Nene's armoured arm, slipped out and began floating
in front of her face. Shock was evident on her face as the others looked
on with great surprise.
"Wha...wha...wha..." Nene backed up from the floating helmet and only
stopped when she ran into something behind her. That something placed a
black glove on her shoulder, getting her attention immediately and
heightening her shock and growing fear as it whispered in a strange, deep,
and spooky voice.
"Neeeeneeee Rooomaaanooovaaaa....."
Head whipping around, Nene took one look at the cloak-covered figure
behind her with a hood that contained only darkness...and screamed.
"YYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!"
She clumsily ran over to the others, who had raised their weapons
at the sudden appearance of the stranger, and ducked behind Sylia.
"Who the hell are you?" Priss demanded, even though she had a good
suspicion and was fighting back a grin.
"_I_ am the shadow that _creeps_..." The figure hesitated, then shook
it's head. "Then again, maybe not. One Darkwing is enough in the universe.
Or any other for that matter." Twister's wide grin was evident as he pulled
the hood off. "Sorry, Nene, couldn't resist." The floating helmet drifted
over to land as he held out his hands and it gently landed upon them.
Priss and the others lowered their weapons when the recognized their
friend, smiles on their faces, but Nene was not amused. Her expression had
morphed from fright to angry indignation and she stomped around Priss to
swipe her helmet from the still grinning Twister's hands as she glared at
him.
"You... you... I should... Hmp!" Head held high, Nene turned around
and left the garage while Priss and Linna tried stifling their laughter.
"Sorry!" Twister cried after the mad ADPolice officer before sighing,
"I'm such a stinker at times." Then he grinned. "But it _was_ funny."
No longer laughing, but still amused, Linna said, "Yes, but you can
bet she'll try to get even somehow." As Twister mulled that fact over, she
inquired, "Why are you here anyway? Showing off that costume? New, isn't
it?"
"This? Oh, I've been wearing it for a week or two but it's just
something I made when I still had my armour. Still working on a new suit
to replace my old one even though I've made some changes. Actually, a lot,
but few visible. This," he waved down to indicate the getup her currently
wore, "isn't something to fight Boomers with, useful as it is. But,"
Twister looked inquiringly at Sylia, who had been silent since he had
arrived, "the real reason I came is that Sylia asked me to come today. For
which she did not tell me why and I am dying to find out."
Everyone looked at Sylia, who in turn was calmly looking at Twister.
"Have you ever been examined by a doctor since your...change?"
Suddenly, Twister looked very nervous. "Um, no..."
"Why not?"
"Well, when you can Heal yourself there's not much point." He was
visibly agitated by the topic, making Priss, Linna, and Mackie wonder why.
The leader of the Knight Sabers wasn't convinced. She had gotten to
know this rather unique individual fairly well over the time that he had
been among them and she knew that Twister's response wasn't the main reason
he hadn't gone to a doctor. And she suspected why.
Sylia voiced it aloud. "No, I think it's something else. Besides
finding a doctor you could trust to do it...you don't want to know how much
you've been changed by what happened to you." She folded her arms across
her armoured chest and not without sympathy gave Twister a questioning
glance. "That's the real reason, isn't it?"
Twister dropped his gaze to the floor and was silent for a long time.
Finally, he sighed and nodded reluctantly.
"Yes. It's not something I care to think about much, but sometimes I
do. I haven't really decided whether or not I'm comfortable with it."
"Avoiding the problem won't help," Sylia pointed out. "If you want,
I can do an examination. I am qualified enough and have the equipment
necessary for a reasonably thorough one for answers."
Twister had to smile. "And the fact that you're likely curious about
my psionic abilities probably influenced you." He sighed. "I guess I should
find out what I can about myself. Sure."
Sylia nodded. "Good. I'll be putting the others through some tests
for adjusting the new suits two days from now. You might as well come
then." She waved at Priss and Linna to follow so they could get out of
their armour. Just before she left the garage, Sylia turned her head and
said. "I'll be testing _both_ forms, Twister." And with that all three went
through the door.
The look of discomfort that crossed his face caused Mackie, who had
remained, to snicker. Twister gave him a _look_ and with a hint of cool
menace in his voice, said, "If _someone_ wants to find out how discomfiting
changing sexes all the time can be I _might_ be able to _arrange_
something."
The speed at which Mackie left the garage was quite satisfying.
*Ah well, I guess I had to do it sooner or later. Wait a minute!
New suits?!* Twister groaned mentally. *And thus does the last BGC episode
come into our lives. I bet Priss destroyed someone's camera during the
mission and I know who's. Hmm. I wonder what I can do. Or _should_ for that
matter, after all, they DO beat him.*
He pondered that for a minute before teleporting home.
Lisa watched the battle through the telescopic lens of her vid-cam,
a new one of course since the one her father gave her had been destroyed
by one of the evil Knight Sabers, and watched breathlessly as events
unfolded far away on the roof of an unfinished building.
The fact that she was 30+ stories high on an unsafe, windy ledge
likely helped drive some of that breath out.
*This time they can't take away a helpless girl's camera to prevent
me from finding out the truth about them!* Lisa mentally crowed.
Then her thoughts stilled as she saw the blue Knight Saber leave
her current boomer opponent to support another of the team. Being without
a combat partner, the Boomer immediately locked on to the pink/blue Saber,
who didn't seem to be exactly thrilled to be chosen for a deadly dance.
To her credit, she did do some damage, but that didn't stop the Boomer from
winding up for a terrific backhand to the helmet before a sword impaled
itself in the Boomer's metallic skull. Destoyed, it collapsed.
Lisa blinked. *A sword? Where did that come from?* she thought as she
continued to take pictures of the fight.
The pink/blue Saber was just as surprised as Lisa and she pushed up
her outer helmet as if to confirm it with her own eyes.
*Gotcha!!* Lisa couldn't see the face properly as she took the
picture but she was sure that with her image enhancer/enlarger the identity
of this Knight Saber was going to be hers! The Saber closed her helmet and
left with the others of their dirty group once the Boomers were defeated.
"Got it all..." she whispered, then realized where she was. Now that
she had accomplished what she had set out to do, the determination that got
her to her perilous perch was gone. She swallowed. It _was_ awfully high.
Deciding to leave before she lost her nerve, Lisa gathered herself...
...and moved.
"Oof!"
"Umf!" Lisa was startled, she had run into something that wasn't
there! This curiosity was forgotten as she found that her balance was shot
as a result of the collision. And was now beginning to fall.
"Nononononoooooaaaahhhhh!!!!!" Suddenly Lisa's fall was stopped
by something that grabbed her arm. She looked up after making sure she
still had her camera.
Nothing was there!
"Huh?! What...?" she got out before being lifted onto the building's
platform, by nothing, and safely dropped off. Lisa collapsed to her knees
in relief and amazement. No one would believe...
"Sorry about that. You okay?"
Lisa's head shot up and saw a cloaked figure a few feet away from
her, obviously the owner of the voice that had spoken.
"Where did... Sorry for wha..." Her mind pieced it together. "I ran
into _you_!"
"You're quick." The figure sighed. "I should've seen you coming but
I happened to be looking somewhere else when you moved. Falling from this
height is not a Good Thing. I've never been fond of heights."
Lisa asked the question that was clamouring around in her head. "Who
ARE you?"
After a brief pause, during which the figure seemed to contemplating
his answer, he spoke. "Well, I've been in this town a while so I guess
you've heard of me. I'm called the Crystal Knight." He shrugged. "My old
armour was trashed and I'm almost done working on a new one so until I'm
done," he dramatically wrapped the cloak around himself "I'm wearing this
outfit in the meantime."
Lisa stared at him for a second, then she looked suspicious. "How do
I know you're _really_ the Crystal Knight? For all I know you could be some
impost...eek!"
She squeaked as she saw the stranger move impossibly fast and drive
a crystal sword into the floor of the roof, one foot in front of her and
before she could do a thing.
The cloaked stranger stepped back and bowed. "My credentials, lass."
Wondering, Lisa timidly reached out and touched the sword's hilt.
It was solid and cool on her fingers. She made a surprised and disappointed
sound when she saw the sword suddenly disintegrate into black dust.
"Okay...I guess you are who you say you are," she said, a little
lamely.
The Knight chuckled.
Remembering about her camera, Lisa whipped it up to take a picture
but she found that she couldn't press the button. Frustrated, she
repeatedly tried to get a shot of the Knight but the button stubbornly
wouldn't move.
"Come on! I just got you! Work!" When the Knight cleared his throat
she looked up at him.
"Sorry, no pictures," he said with an amused tone in his voice.
"Maybe later."
Lisa stared at him, then at the camera. She slowly turned the camera
around and tried to take a picture of herself. This time the camera offered
no resistance and took the shot.
"No... No way! That's not possible!" she stammered.
"Heh. I may not be a mercenary group like the Knight Sabers but I do
have a formidable bag of tricks up my sleeve." Stunned, Lisa just looked
at him. "It's been a pleasure talking to you but I have to go. Bye!" With
that, the Knight jumped five feet and vanished, startling her immensely.
After a frozen moment, Lisa ran to the spot where he had stood and
quickly searched the area. She found a faint pair of footprints on the
slightly dirty floor but only that. Nothing else, except for the hole the
sword had made, was on the rooftop. Nothing to indicate how the Knight had
vanished like that. Walking over to the door for the stairs Lisa thought
to herself.
*It looks like I have two mysteries to solve: who are the Knight
Sabers _and_ the Crystal Knight. I wonder if there's a connection. The
Knight doesn't _seem_ to be a mercenary from what I've heard before, but
then, what _is_ he then? I'll have to make him my second objective. I
wonder if I can handle that before I have to leave...*
At least the Knight didn't break her camera like the evil Knight
Sabers.
The next evening...
*I wonder if this is a good idea.*
Twister had teleported just outside Doc. Raven's and it was
with some understandable hesitation that he walked into the large garage.
Sylia had told him to arrive early since he had two forms to test and she
didn't know how long it would take.
*Too late now I guess.*
As he walked in Mackie, who was working on a bike, heard him and
looked up. He grinned at Twister's expression and nodded towards the back
door. "Sis is inside and ready for you."
"Ready. Why does that not sound very encouraging?" He sighed and
walked through the back door, giving Mackie a sour look as he did so when
he heard muffled laughter behind him.
When he entered the physical examination room he saw that Sylia was
standing behind a table with something on it. She gave him a small smile
and pointed to what lay on the table.
"It's good that you came in your male form because we'll be testing
that first. I made these two outfits to generally conform to each of your
forms. The material that they're made of is stretchable enough to make up
for any discrepancies." She pointed to a door. "You can change in there."
"I won't need to...um...remove anything for any of the tests?"
Twister's face turned red, showing his embarressment.
Sylia smiled and shook her head. "The material you'll be wearing is
essentially transparent to the equipment I'll be using. In addition to some
testing of your more unusual abilities, you'll also be doing what the
others will be going through too. As part of the testing of course."
"Of course," he said wryly.
"I also want to ask you a few questions about that armour of yours
that you made. Despite the...uh..._unusual_ nature of it's construction,
there are a few things that I might be able to study for my own purposes.
Nothing like whatever you used to increase your strength."
"Increase my...?" Twister's face showed his puzzlement.
"Yes, your suit did..." Sylia's voice trailed off as she saw his face.
Slow understanding came to her. "Your suit _didn't_ increase your strength,
did it?"
"Err...no. I can boost my strength with my psionic power but my
suit...no." His face turned contemplative. "Actually, when I reduced it's
weight with the spe..."
"Never mind," Sylia sighed, interrupting him. "I'll ask about that
later...when I get the full, _true_ story from you."
"Um...well...are you _sure_ you really want to?" Sylia gave him a
long, steady look. "Guess you do," he muttered, privately he hoped she
wasn't very religious. Arch-demons after all...
"Go on and change, the others should start arriving by the time we get
close to starting your female side." Twister nodded and swinging the
testing clothes over his shoulder left to change.
Sylia studied him before turning to glance over at the examination
setup of the room.
*If he really didn't use the armour for strength then I hope my
equipment is sturdy enough for this.*
"Hi!"
"Hi, Nene." Sylia smiled as Nene walked in to the testing room. "You
can go in next after Linna."
Nene looked at the console. "Wow! Level 8. And I still can't get past
level 4."
"You need to practice more, Nene. You're too weak," Priss smirked out
over at the arm strength measurer. "And if you think level 8 is good you
should've seen 'Mr. Speed Demon' over there." She nodded over to where the
treadmill was.
"Hm? Oh! Hi, Twister! You look a little tired."
Still wearing the dark testing clothing, Twister was sitting on the
treadmill with head slightly drooping. His hair was damp with sweat. "Hi,
Nene. It's ok. I'll be fine in a few minutes; I recover quickly."
"Guess Sylia tested you pretty hard," Nene said with sympathy.
Twister rolled his eyes. "Not only did she test me physically, she
also wanted to see me use my psionic powers. I can't believe how many
things she had me make from unstable diamond."
"And a stable diamond point for my work," Sylia commented while still
watching Linna.
Nene remembered Priss' comments and angrily turned to the singer.
"And weak am I? Hmph! I contribute with my computer skills and my good
looks. I wouldn't want to be an ape woman like you." She smiled with
satisfaction. "And I caught you, didn't I?" she said, referring to earlier
that day when she had been driving with Lisa and happened to spot Priss
speeding. Nene had stopped her and gave the biker a ticket.
"Hmph." Priss angrily turned away and kept pushing the testing bar
with her arm.
"Not me." Twister chuckled.
Nene angrily whirled around to face him. "And _you_! What were you
trying to do? You passed right by me and Priss when I gave her the
ticket and stopped right beside my guest."
"I thought she might want to see the legendary 'Blue Bullet'." Twister
grinned, near laughing. He had been amusing himself by staying right behind
Priss, suspecting what would happen. It had been a sudden mischievous
impulse to pass both friends and stop by a startled Lisa.
"_And_ you were going twice the speed _Priss_ was over the limit,"
Nene fumed. She had found that out after returning red-faced to her car.
"Legendary! Lisa asked me why I didn't arrest you! I felt so
foolish!"
"Well, what could I give you? I don't exactly have a licence. Anyway
I think she'll find out THP has tried to catch me many times without
success and she then won't think badly of you. They are getting more
persistent though," he pondered out loud.
"YAAA!!!!"
Nene turned at the muffled shout to see Linna's holographic opponent
disappear in defeat. "Linna's done."
"And now it's your turn, Nene."
"Uh...do I have to?" she weakly asked.
"Of course! I need the data for the suits."
"Okay..."
Twister chuckled and stood up. "I think I'll go change now. You don't
want too big an audience for this."
Frowning angrily, Nene whirled to face him. "And just what do you mean
by _that_?"
"Nothing, nothing..." he held up his hands in front of him, backing
away with a faint grin.
"Hey, Twister," Linna said, getting out of the simulator. "Show Nene
that weird move of yours."
"Show _you_ you mean," Twister replied with a knowning smile at the
martial artist.
Nene blinked, wondering what they were taking about. "What move?"
He waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, the universe I was in before has
some really unusual martial arts moves involving ki. A friend of mine
showed me one of them but I've been trying to make up one or two of my own
to see if I could."
"Ki?" Nene said doubtfully.
"Just watch. I came up with this one after some time." Twister took
a deep breath and his face turned calm. Almost too calm. He quickly shot
out his arms straight out, angled slightly downwards, in front of him and
had both pointing fingers touch each other. Where they joined a white glow
started to grow.
"DIAMOND KI DEFENCE!"
At the naming of the move, Twister quickly and precisely drew an
octagon of energy around himself and finished the shape behind himself.
Then he raised both now-glowing fists high above himself. A field of force
shot outwards from just above the fists to form a smaller octagon. Lines
of light from the previous shape and the new one leaped towards each other
to form a network of triangle-shaped surfaces. The lower octagon grew
slightly and sent more lines downwards to mirror what had already been done
above. When it was finished, it looked like Twister was standing in the
center of a very large diamond with glowing white edges.
Nene's eyes were wide with amazement. "Wow..."
Linna went over and patted a hand carefully on the diamond shape.
"This thing is _hard_. I tried kicking it and almost sprained my ankle. He
says it isn't actually diamond, only ki-force." She shook her head as she
examined the field. "I wouldn't mind being able to do something like this
myself."
"Wow..." Nene repeated. "This is amazing, Twister." Nene frowned as
she got no reply. "Can't he talk to us?"
"Nah," Priss said. "He said he needs all his attention on keeping
it up. Another benefit." She grinned.
Twister lowered his hands and the field suddenly shattered into it's
separate surfaces and slowly fell to the ground, looking all the world like
glass shards until they vanished.
"Very funny, Priss."
"I thought so."
"I _can_ hear while doing it. But you _really_ don't want to know how
long it took to perfect that move. Oh, thanks, Nene," the red-head started
to smile but he continued with a grin, "and I hope you won't get too badly
defeated. Well, I'd better change. Back soon."
As Twister left to get changed, Nene fumed. "_That_ does it. We need
to do _something_ to get back at Darlene!" she said angrily, using
Twister's female name as she, as well as Linna and Priss, knew her friend
best that way.
"We?" Priss and Linna chorused.
"Oh, come on, guys!" Nene pleaded. "Help me, please?"
Linna and Priss looked at each other. Finally, Priss said, "Well...
I do know something that might work and I think she does need to get her
tires deflated a bit more."
"Hm, it wouldn't hurt to take her down a peg," Linna agreed. "What did
you have in mind?"
"Yes, yes, yes! What? What?" Nene eagerly asked.
"Someone I know told me of this party next month that a friend of his
was going to be testing something at, as a joke of sorts."
"Testing? Testing what?" Linna asked curiously.
"Some new chemical that supposedly nullifies all means of someone
telling whether or not the punch is spiked," Priss grinned, "no matter how
heavily it is. Smell, Taste, you name it."
"And Nene gets Darlene to drink some and get her drunk!" Linna revised
her statement when she recalled something. "Hmm.. A _lot_ is more like it.
Remember Leon, Nene?"
"Hey! Why me?" Nene protested.
"You're the one who suggested it. You do it." Priss countered the red-
head's objection.
"But what do I do after she's drunk?"
"Be imaginative," the singer replied, grinning as she had a few ideas
of her own.
"Ahem! Nene? Your test?" Sylia patiently said, wanting to get on with
the examination. SHe had waited for the others to finish but she did want
to finish.
Nene sighed. "Coming, Sylia."
Chapter Sixteen
---------------
In his own personal laboratory, Dr. Miriam was hard at work gleefully
going over the data received from the fights of his Boomers against the
Knight Sabers. Only one more fight was required to get the full amount
of information on their hardsuits he needed. Then, he would create totally
unique Boomers to destroy the Knight Sabers!
"They will be my masterpieces!" he cried aloud in slightly crazed
glee. "A testament to my incredible genius once they humiliate, then rip
the Knight Sabers apart! None will be able to deny my genius then!"
"How original," a voice laced with a slight taste of sarcasm said
from the doorway that he had failed to hear open during his ranting.
"What?! Who are...you...?" His voice died once he glimpsed who stood
in the doorway.
"A representative," the amused, female, voice said. The owner stepped
into the workshop with one graceful stride, allowing the door to close
behind her. Long, warm brown hair seemed to flow around the strange female
when she stopped, then flowed back to rest on her back. Her voice was
suggestive and combined with the incredible figure that showed even through
the business dress she wore, started the startled scientist's knees
shaking. The unmarred, slightly tanned face held a pair of startling blue
eyes hinting of mischief and, flickering so briefly the doctor thought he
imagined it, malice. "From one who also wishes the Knight Sabers
destroyed," she concluded, using those delightful looking lips once more.
Shaking his head to clear it of these ridiculous feelings, the doctor
stood up as his knees had bent a bit during his lapse. He was surprised the
woman was almost as tall as he was, still...anger built at this intrusion.
"I can take care of them myself!" he snapped. "My creations will
be able to overcome anything, even the Knight Sabers. Who _are_ you?!"
"I am Yanda." she said, unruffled. "And does anything include the
Crystal Knight?"
"What?! There's no indication that he should...interfere..." his
voice trailed off as he recalled a previous fight when one of his Boomers
had been destroyed by a strange object that appeared from nowhere.
Suddenly, he felt a little less confident.
Yanda was contemptuous. "He fights rogue Boomers. Of course he will
come if it's serious enough. But..." she smiled secretly at him, "my Master
has a proposition for you that can help deal with the Crystal Knight
without interfering with your own plans for the Knight Sabers. Something
that might be even more potentially rewarding than mere Boomers...if you
agree and also if you're intelligent enough. The possibilities would be
incredible..." her voice trailed off temptingly.
Needless to say, he couldn't NOT listen to this challenge of his
genius. Irritably, he went to a nearby chair and sat down on it and waved
at her. "Very well, I'm listening."
Yanda smiled, he would not be able to resist the bait she was about
dangle in front of him.
Perfect.
The next morning was bright and sunny, but in ADPolice headquarters,
not everyone was happy.
Leon sheepishly smiled down at Nene who still shaking a bit from
the shock of him springing up in front of her desk. He inwardly cursed at
himself, if he had known she would have been so frightened he wouldn't
have done it.
"Ah...sorry, Nene. Er...I...that is..."
The red-headed young woman slowly stopped her shaking and a growing
anger was beginning to show on Nene's face as she picked herself off the
floor.
"Sorry? Sorry?!? You scare me out of my mind and that's _it_?!? That's
not good enough, Leon! That was..."
Someone else behind Leon chuckled and managed to get Leon to hear
his voice during Nene's furious diatribe. "You think you can spare an hour
of your time? If you think you can calm her down that is."
Leon grimaced as he recognized the voice, but calming Nene down was
the more immediate problem.
"Nene," he said plaintively, interrupting her, "I'm really, really
sorry about this and..." Leon paused.
"And...?" Nene echoed angrily.
He sighed, but smiled inwardly since he knew the solution to this
problem. "And I'll give you three coupons for the new Dessert Palace that
opened up. As soon as I can get them," he promised.
Nene wavered as she remembered Priss, Linna, and Darlene's laughter
when Priss had dragged her over to the body scanner, showing her shameful
waistline. But, she reasoned, Leon _should_ pay for scaring her like that.
"Alright..." she slowly agreed.
"Great! Later, Nene!" Leon quickly turned to the person behind him and
as fast as he could walk, got away from the scene of the embarrassment. One
crisis averted and, unfortunately, possibly an even more unpleasant one
before him.
As soon as the two were a safe enough distance away, Leon growled,
"Alright, Potter, what's the ADPolice officer I dislike the most doing
here?"
"So _this_ is the reason??" Leon demanded incredulously. "When did
you get the funding for these?!?"
"No funding. Donated," Potter grinned as Leon disbelievingly scanned
the garage's contents. "It seems Genom felt that ADP would do nicely to
test these babies. That Griffin incident proved it right enough. And
someone also decided to put me in command of them. Got just the right job
for them too."
The objects of their discussion were two rows of cars that counted
twenty for each line. They were freshly painted and polished in the
ADPolice style, but these cars were different than standard police
vehicles. They were sleeker, more streamlined, and made for speed. Potter
had even hinted that they would've given even the Griffin a run for it's
money had they had these cars at the time. This likely indicated that the
material of the cars were likewise strengthened for the rough duties of an
ADPoliceman. The Griffin had not been an easy car to catch.
Leon turned to sourly look at the person beside him. Randy Potter was
not one of his favourite persons and the malicious smirk the guy wore did
not make him revise that opinion. Slightly taller than Leon, and with a
slimmer build, the black-haired, hawk-nosed man would've had no trouble
with the women if it wasn't for the need the THP officer had to flaunt what
he had to everybody in the police force. Females seemed to sense Potter's
arrogance from forty feet away, not that the man cared; his ego was big
enough for two people. Leon had the misfortune of training with the bastard
and had formed an instant dislike to the man. So did everyone else. The
only reason he was a lieutenant was because some of that ego was justified
and considering the size of IT...he was very good at his work. Except when
that same ego got in the way.
"And what job would that be?" Leon inquired.
Potter's face turned slightly angry as if remembering something
unpleasant. "To bring in that Blue Bullet character."
Leon blinked, then remembered something. "Oh, yes. You tried to
catch him once. Said that the THP were all idiots and went after him
yourself to prove it." A lazy smile grew on his face. "As I recall
you...ah...didn't get him. Something about a wrecked car...?"
"Yes," Potter growled out, unlike his usual self-assured tone of
voice. "Me and my partner were tricked into crashing our car and the
bastard _mocked_ me! He just sat there with an amused air about him and
_waved_ at us as we got out of our car! I'll catch him if it's the last
thing I do!"
*Uh oh. Looks like he's obsessed with catching the Bullet.* Leon
frowned inwardly. *I wonder if Genom knew that when they 'suggested' Potter
command the squad.* Aloud he said, "Did you bring me here just to show off
your new toys?"
"No." Potter got control of himself and waved at the cars arrayed
before them. "I want you to help me catch him."
Leon was surprised, this wasn't what he had expected. "Me? Why?"
"Firstly, you're one of the few people who can handle one of these
babies to get it's full potential. More importantly, however, is that
you probably know more about the bastard than anybody else, possibly
excepting your would-be girlfriend. Her name's Priss, I believe?"
Leon shook his head, ignoring Potter's jab about Leon's efforts for
Priss. "Believe me, she told me everything she knows about the guy, and
some very unlikely and personal remarks about his heritage. Loudly." He had
to grin at the memory. "She wasn't too impressed about him getting her into
so many speed traps. From her reactions I don't think she knows who he is."
"But their bikes and equipment are virtually identical," Potter
pressed.
"I know. That was another thing that annoyed her to no end. Funny
thing is, I checked the database for motorcycle owners and nobody has any
mention of his bike. Even Priss' bike is in there, but not his. So he must
have made the thing himself after seeing hers," Leon deduced. "And knowing
how souped up hers is, I have to be impressed at him outdoing Priss. Must
be some closet mechanical genius cyclist who has a thing for her. Or her
bike."
"Damn," Potter viciously said, frustrated. "I came to that conclusion
too and had no luck finding him. Guess we'll just have to run him down the
hard way." He didn't look like he was disappointed at that conclusion.
Rather the opposite. "Join the team when we go after him?"
Leon shrugged. "Why not? Sounds like it'll be interesting." He also
wanted to keep an eye on Potter.
Potter grinned with pleasure at his victory. "Great! Take one now
so you'll be able to help when he appears. I'll see you then." He walked
away, anticipating his future victory.
Shaking his head at the man's departure, Leon turned to the sleek new
cars, a big smile on his face. He whistled as he approached the one he
chose, though he suspected he wouldn't have it for long after Potter's
'mission' was over.
*Might as well enjoy it while I have it.*
The next day had the sun shining brightly outside.
"Darlene! Phone!"
The red-headed owner of the store, who was placing the last of a
new batch of dragon figurines in place, turned her head at the call.
"Hmm? Oh, thanks, Sylvie." Smiling at her friend and assistant,
Darlene walked over to the vid-phone partly concealed from the rest of
the store and brightened when she saw who was calling. "Sylia! Hi! What's
up?"
The leader of the Knight Sabers smiled at her greeting but seemed a
little concerned about something. "I've finished the results of the
examination that I gave you."
Darlene's eyebrows shot up. "Should I be worried? You scanned me
fairly thoroughly and it has taken you a few days."
Sylia shook her head. "I only looked for specific information that
could pose a danger to yourself or others." She hesitated. "There wasn't
anything like that. The opposite in fact."
"The opposite? Bwah?" Darlene blinked a few times in confusion.
"I don't follow you."
"Maybe you should come to my place right now so I can explain."
"Sure... It's been a slow day." Sylia nodded and closed the
connection. Darlene frowned; what could it be that wasn't dangerous to her
and yet have Sylia worried? She sighed. Waiting to find out wouldn't likely
help. "Sylvie. Anri," she called out. When both turned to face her, she
rolled her eyes. "My doctor asked me to visit her. And even though it's
been such a _busy_ day," the sexaroids grinned at the exaggeration, "she
wants me to go over my examination results with her."
Concerned, Anri said, "Anything bad?"
"No...but she seemed worried." Darlene shrugged. "I'll find out when
I get there..."
"WHAT did you say??"
Numb, Twister sat heavily down onto one of the soft chairs of Sylia's
large living room, staring up at Sylia, whose eye's showed some concern
as she carefully watched his reactions to the news.
She repeated herself. "I said: your physical body is not aging at
a normal rate."
Shaking his head, Twister calmed down a bit. He could just be
overreacting to this a little. Still... "How can you tell?" he asked a
little shakily but in full control.
"If I had just the examination results of a few days ago, I might not
have known. But I told you that I had scanned your female form when we
first met during that exam, right?"
Twister rolled his eyes. "Nothing like trust at first sight."
Sylia shrugged innocently. He, as a Darlene, had been a lot more vocal
when she had revealed this during the scan of his female half. "In any
case, the first gave me a very precise scan of musculature, skeletal
structure, and other macro scale items of your body. The micro scale is
what I was more concerned about; cellular structure, neurochemical
balances, and other things that might eventually be fatal. But when I
compared the two macro scale scans..."
"You found out I wasn't aging fast?" Twister said sceptically.
Sylia nodded. "Yes. The human body changes continually, even from
day to day, in the macro and micro scale. It might have been impossible to
detect the changes a decade ago, but today we can. When I compared the two
scans, I saw the differences in the readings." She was watching Twister
carefully.
"And what? I live to be two hundred? Three?" Not seeing Sylia change
expression, he hesitantly added, "Four?"
"The readings indicated a change comparable to one day."
"So it's one day. That's no reason to panic..." It sunk in at that
point, and Twister's eyes widened in disbelief. "Waitaminute! The first
scan was over a year older than the second!!"
"Yes."
"Now. _Now_ we start panicking," Twister faintly said. His eyes
glazed over as he figured out how long that meant. "That's practically
a given thirty thousand years, then adding on around ten to twenty thousand
for yucks! My God, all that time paying life insurance..."
"Are you alright?"
"Considering what you've just said, I'm _gonna_ be alright for a
looooooong time." He chuckled weakly for a second before sighing and
closing his eyes tightly, rubbing his face with his hands. "No, I'm _not_
alright. How would you feel if someone told you this? Are you _sure_?"
Sylia nodded her head, face full of sympathy. "Haven't you noticed
that you look the same as when you first got here? You still look seventeen
years old, and for _either_ sex at that time you usually change a lot in
a short period." She tilted her head a little, considering. "You do manage
to appear older by your behaviour enough so that no one questions that you
own a store. Many people would just think you just appear younger
naturally. Nene is someone like that actually," she reflected.
"Naturally!" Twister snorted, still dazed by the news. "I guess you
might call being altered by a...er...sort of natural force that." Forcing
himself out of his own confusion, he stood up abruptly. "I think I need
some air. Maybe I'll go cycling on the highways." Twister got ready to
teleport.
"Wait!" Sylia quickly held up a hand as she deduced what he was about
to do.
"What?" Seeing her hesitant face, he felt a sinking sensation
somewhere in his stomach. "Don't tell me there's more?"
"That was what I found on the macro scale, the micro scale was more
disturbing. There were numerous things, but this is the most important.
Normally, as the body develops, you can find dead cells throughout the
body. When their numbers begin to increase, some things like hair or skin
start failing. Eventually, major organs become non-functional. This process
of cells dying happens every second. In your case both male and female
bodies showed _no_ signs of cells being non-functional."
"Wait." Twister was even more confused now. "If I'm showing signs of
a very slow aging process, wouldn't it be normal for no cells to die during
a relatively brief exam?"
"Maybe, but there was no sign of _any_ dead cell on your body with
exception to your surface skin layers and hair. Not even your brain, and
untold thousands of brain cells usually die every second."
"So...I'm aging physically, but I'm not aging normally in the cellular
case?"
"I suspect you may be unconsciously using your powers in either body
to sustain this. It may also prevent you from getting any virus or bacteria
that would be harmful to you; I couldn't tell as I was looking for other
data."
Twister stood there silently. "So I might live even longer, but
I'm still changing physically...which shouldn't happen if my body is trying
hard to keep cells from dying...which is a part of aging...which..."
he ran out of words.
"There must be something else happening to explain all this, but as
it's all going so slowly it's hard to tell what that might be."
There was a few seconds of silence.
"I need some air," Twister slowly said, then vanished.
Sylia sighed and stood there for some time after he left, thinking to
herself There was something else that was might become a potential problem.
She'd noticed that, as Twister, her friend was usually a fairly calm,
somewhat logical individual with a hint of mischievousness thrown in. From
what she had understood from the tale told her about his/her past, it had
taken a serious physical threat to him or to another he cared about to
anger him and thus use the full force of his considerable power, otherwise
his use of psionic powers was minimal when fighting someone. She concluded
that, deep down, Twister wasn't really comfortable with his powers yet and
normally reluctant to use them. Perfectly understandable.
What really concerned and disturbed her was that, when comparing
female Darlene and male Twister, she had noticed a few differences in
behaviour. At times, Darlene seemed to be more emotional, a little rash
sometimes, and surprisingly more female in behaviour than when Sylia had
first met her. Which might be understandable except... There was twenty
years experience being male in that mind and a fairly stable, adaptable yet
strong mind at that. But there were signs that told her that for some
reason, when female, Darlene was far more emotional now than she used to
be before all her changes had happened. Perhaps it was psychological,
perhaps something to do with that thing he called the Event. Maybe the
latter, he _was_ more logical as a male, but that didn't concern her.
This did.
When male, by what she had been told, Twister had been very angry
several times, and when this happened, Sylia had been told by Twister
himself that he had changed slightly mentally. He had been cold,
emotionless save anger, logical, and controlled. But Darlene seemed to be
Twister's opposite; in sex, in power, and, more worrisome, emotionally.
What would happen if Darlene got really mad?
This obviously hadn't occurred to Darlene. Sylia felt she had better
warn the red-head after the shock from the latest news had worn off enough.
She felt slightly worried about waiting, but Darlene hadn't been really
angry for the past year. Perhaps the old psychological patterns were
keeping Darlene from 'blowing up', restraining the reactions of her more
emotional state. If so, it could wait a week or two.
No need to make things worse at the moment.
Chapter Seventeen
-----------------
Twister stopped and studied the motorbike he had created before
getting onto it. It still amused him at times that he had exactly
duplicated Priss' bike to create the deep blue colored bike with purple
lines.
He held up his helmet and looked into the black, slightly reflective,
visor. It was the same face he had seen yesterday and when he thought back
to when he had first looked at his altered face, after his first battle
with Malkon, it had been the same then too. Sighing, Twister put the helmet
on and mounted his bike.
*A lifetime of over thirty thousand years. I still can't really
believe that, even knowing that I _do_ look the same as I did two years
ago. I guess I would have realized it myself eventually.* He shook his
head. *Hard to swallow that tidbit of info, isn't it, Twister? Very hard...
oh, heck!* Twister kicked life into the machine and revved the engine, the
sound echoing in the huge cavern.
*Enough brooding on what's already been done. Time to ride.*
With that he teleported for the streets.
"Leon! Leon! Pick up your mike! Answer me!"
Surprised, Leon looked down at the new car's police radio which
was issuing Potter's excited voice. He had gone out to get a feel for the
new car that he had taken from the ADPolice garage. Unfortunately, the
Chief had decreed that Leon would be on his own while Dailey stayed on
regular patrol. It was too bad, the car was a dream as far as he was
concerned.
He picked up the mike. "Keep your cool, Potter. What's got you all
excited?"
"He's been spotted! In the downtown area no less!" There was no need
to say who.
"Must be feeling social," Leon quipped.
Potter wasn't listening. "All units are converging on his location.
The overconfident bastard's trapped himself. We've got him for sure!"
"Does this mean I don't get to keep the car?"
Now the other was angry. "Just be there. The location's on your
vid-map." If one could imagine the sound of a mike hanging up over the
radio Leon heard it.
He shook his head. "I don't know who to feel more sorry for. Potter
or the Bullet," Leon said aloud. "Oh, well. Let's see who wins."
SSCCCRRREEEECCCHHH!!!!
Twister didn't even have time to wince as he was far too occupied
doing a hard right into a busy street. Meanwhile, the police vehicle that
had been insanely too close on his tail couldn't quite make the same
manoeuvre and crashed into a store display window.
He hadn't gone another block when another police cruiser appeared.
*Argh! What _is_ this? Bite the Bullet day??? Methinks someone in
ADPolice is a _little_ ticked off me. Better get to the more deserted
section of the city as I don't like doing damage in downtown...* He made
another turn and the cruiser followed. A quick look back confirmed
something. *Those are _not_ standard equipment. Too agile by half; I'm
gonna have trouble with these things. Did ADPolice win the funding lottery
or something?*
A slow smile grew on his face as he weaved through traffic.
*Then again, they must be feeling pretty confident with their new
toys. Guess I'm going to have to frustrate them a little to burst their
bubble. Heh, heh, heh.*
"Keep on him! Don't lose him!" Potter clenched his hands in front of
him as his driver strained to keep up with the blue motorcycle. "Your ass
is _mine_, asshole!" he crowed to the helmeted figure in front of them.
"I think he's heading to a more deserted part of the city," his driver
managed to say through his intense concentration.
"Perfect! We can box him in more easily then."
They barely kept up with the more manouverable cyclist as he turned
left down one street then right down another. Potter shouted commands over
the radio to try to surround the target but the speeds they were going made
it difficult to do so.
Suddenly, they turned into a miraculously clear, broken-down street.
Luck seemed to be smiling on Potter as there was another two cruisers at
the opposite end of the road, bearing down on the Bullet.
"We've got him now! There's only an alley left for him and it's a dead
end!"
"He's not slowing down," the driver said, a little concerned.
"He knows he's trapped."
Then the blue bike put on a burst of speed and accelerated until
it was almost midway between Potter and the other two cars. At that point
the Bullet did a hard turn into the narrow one-car wide alley, the police
cruisers closing in.
"I wish I could see his face when he realizes it's a dead end. WHAT
THE HELL?!?!?" Potter screamed in disbelief.
The Blue Bullet roared out of the alley that was far too narrow for
such a large bike to turn around in, with almost no loss of speed as when
he had roared into it. This startled all three drivers of the police
vehicles enough to forget to brake in time as he zoomed around the car that
had been chasing him. Potter's driver reacted first, braking hard and the
car started turning, blocking the road. The other two cars smashed into it,
rendering all three immobile.
Both Potter and his driver panted as adrenaline coursed through their
systems.
"Impossible," Potter muttered, recovering. "Impossible, and it was!"
He
straightened as he reached out for the CB's mike and turned in on.
"All units! The fugitive has disabled three more units and is still on the
loose! Capture at all costs! I repeat..."
His driver wearily leaned on the steering wheel.
*This is going to be a long day...* mentally sighing as he listened
to his superior rant to the CB.
Twister grinned inside the helmet. *_That_ was the TTA manoeuvre,
guys. Teleport Turn-Around.* Another police cruiser screeched it's tires
as it turned to follow him. He groaned as he accelerated.
"Here we go again," he muttered to himself, disgusted. "Hmm. I wonder
if any of them have seen Tron. I bet I can do a real good imitaion of a
lightcycle. Like...instant ninty degree turns."
His grin appeared once more.
This night might turn out to be a good one after all.
Sylia sat down in front of the radio equipment she used to contact
Nene at work. Mackie had whispered that the red-head needed to tell her
something badly.
*I wonder what it is...* She pressed a button and put on her headset.
"Nene? Are you there?"
"Sylia, you finally made it." Nene's voice was full of relief and
concern.
"What is it?"
"ADPolice are after the Blue Bullet!" Nene said in a frantic whisper.
*So much for getting some air,* Sylia thought. "What did he do?"
"Nothing! Some lieutenant I don't know apparently got permission to
apprehend him. I didn't know about it until the Bullet was spotted and
everyone went into a frenzy!" Nene's voice turned amused. "He's wrecked at
least five of those new cars trying to avoid being caught and causing no
end of confusion. He's feeling tricky I guess. No one's been hurt, aside
from wounded pride, that is. What?! Hey!"
Sylia didn't like the tone of concern that had appeared in Nene's
voice. "What is it?"
"A Boomer just showed up! It's blocking ADPolice efforts to catch
the Bullet. And another one just appeared!"
"Nene, you said 'new' cars. What 'new' cars?"
"I'm not sure. Somebody whispered that Genom..." Nene trailed off
as a dawning suspicion grew. "You don't think Genom is after Dar..."
"No," Sylia interrupted, mind racing. "But they may suspect he's the
Knight. Keep tabs on events. I'll see if I can get the others."
"Okay. Hm? Oh, Lisa! Nothing, just muttering to myself. Yes, that
lieutenant's voice _is_ funny." Nene's transmission ended rather quickly.
Sylia frowned. *What is Genom up to this time?* she wondered as she
activated the beepers on Priss and Linna's watches. *Mackie is making the
fine adjustments on the new suits but that won't be done for a few hours
so we'll use the old ones one last time.*
Meanwhile, Twister was wondering where his imposed playmates had gone
to.
*Odd, they were everywhere a few minutes ago, now...nothing?*
This new development did not encourage a very safe feeling. "I don't
like this at all..." he muttered aloud, turning his head left and right and
looking for trouble.
Then a STRONG feeling to brake sharply and turn spiked through his
mind and he acted on this impulse without delay. A good thing to do as a
blue plasma blast lanced into the street where he would have been if he
hadn't turned. Still, the resulting explosion of exploding street jarred
him enough that he had to wrestle with his bike to get it under control.
Looking behind, he saw the Boomer that had attacked him leap off the
building roof from where it had fired, land, and begin chasing him after
turning on it's flight vents.
Twister immediately began swerving to avoid giving the Boomer a chance
to lock on to him. He wasn't happy with the way things were going.
"First brand-new ADPolice pursuit vehicles, now Boomers?! Okay, the
former I would've thought harmless, but BOTH?? Hmmm...gee, I wonder who
could be behind this. G...E...N...O...M...and Genom is it's name-o," he
sarcastically sang to himself. A second Boomer smashed through a wall in
the street ahead and began flying his way. When he turned into another
street the two followed him as a group, firing randomly to keep him
occupied.
*Yikes!* he thought as he dodged the Boomer strikes. *And all I wanted
was some air! Sheesh!*
He tried losing the two as the skies grew darker, to no avail. The
only times it seemed he could was when ADPolice showed up. Unfortunately,
the Boomers managed to keep them away and still keep up with the speedy
Bullet.
*Odd that more ADPolice haven't shown up. Must be more than just these
two and...whoa!!* Twister screeched to a stop just in time; the street he
had turned into was blocked off by an impressive amount of debris that was
far too high to jump over. The Boomers that had been chasing him landed in
the intersection where he had turned off, trapping him.
*Uh, oh. Trouble...* It wasn't the Boomers that worried him; he could
handle them with psionics if he had no choice. Somehow, though, he felt
that there was more than just Boomers involved here.
"So, _Crystal Knight_, here you are at last," a familiar voice that
he recognized called out. Madagan's. Somehow he wasn't surprised. Twister
quickly turned his head to the source and was very surprised at what he
saw...and sensed.
Whatever Madagan was wearing reminded him of a diver's suit,
remotely. The shiny black material of her suit hung close to her trim
figure and bright yellow lines traced across the black in a suspiciously
orderly and meaningful pattern. Her face was partially uncovered, the eyes
being the only thing protected by some reflective, silvery substance formed
into a visor. The suit covered the back of her neck and forehead and around
her face while allowing her hair to escape freely. There was a lot of
yellow lines in the headband as well as what seemed to be some equipment
on her back. What worried him was that he couldn't find out what it was.
Something was blocking him somehow and that wasn't a very good sign as he
figured Madagan wasn't...shouldn't have been strong enough to do so.
"Ah...me? The Crystal Knight?" Twister laughed half-heartedly.
"You must have the wrong guy."
Madagan smiled in self-satisfied amusement. "After I felt you trying
to find out about my new suit and blocking your attempt? I don't think so."
*Insert head and kick thoroughly to correct brain,* Twister mentally
cursed, then gave up the pretence as he turned to face his female adversary
while sitting on his bike. "Oh, okay. I am. What's your beef that Genom
sics ADPolice and Boomers on me anyhow? And how did you block my scan?" he
added curiously.
"The first is simple enough. We want," she pointed at the blue-clad
biker, "_you_. Even though my new-found psi powers have impressed
researchers in Genom with the sheer _potential_ of my abilities we know
your _natural_ power exceeds my own by a great amount. That is why when you
next appeared in your other persona we arranged things so that you would
eventually be forced here. It was an impressive effort of planning."
"For some reason I'm not flattered," he commented. She ignored him.
"To accomplish this, and answering your second question, I'm using the
fruits of labour from a largely ignored section of Genom. This suit was
availible and pre-made. With it, I..."
Two explosions originating from where the Boomers had been standing
guard interrupted Madagan and she looked away from Twister to see what had
happened. He too looked and smiled at what he saw.
The Boomers were down, large, smoking holes in their bodies. Standing
over them were Priss and Linna in their hardsuits, made even more
impressive by the motoroids surrounding their armoured bodies, the large
handheld cannons smoking. Sylia, in her hardsuit only, stood in the middle
of the street while the other two flanked her.
"You up there, I suggest you leave. Now," Sylia called out, Linna and
Priss raising their motoroid's weapons to punctuate that command.
Anger clearly shown on her face, Madagan started to shout, but then
calmed down mysteriously, and smiled. "With it, I was about to say, I can
do...THIS!" Her suit's yellow lines pulsed and glowed as a wave of
telekinetic force lashed out at the four in the street.
Twister lost ground as he wasn't prepared for the unexpected strength
of Madagan's attack; still, he protected himself and his bike as they both
slid backward, carving gouges in the street as he struggled to stay
upright. However, the three Knight Sabers didn't have his advantages and
received the full force of the blast. In only her suit, Sylia was thrown
violently down the street and luckily didn't hit anything, rolling when she
hit pavement. Linna and Priss, in the heavier motoroids, were thrown with
less force, but impacted with the buildings on either side of the street.
Unlike Twister's usual psi-force blasts, which were only air
telekinetically accelerated, Madagan's were only pure psi-force. More
efficent, he guessed, as it didn't have to waste energy moving air and make
it move through air resistance. He'd have to learn how to do that. Later,
he was a little busy now.
Madagan threw back her head and laughed mockingly at those below her.
"This suit was designed for the express purpose of testing the idea of
amplifying human thought waves for use in remote control operations _and_
seeing if true mind-over-matter powers were possible. The woman being
tested for this happened to be my size and since I could _already_ move
things with my mind the researchers, once they were told of my new
abilities, were most interested in what would happen. You've felt the
results for yourselves. It amplified my telekinetic powers." She glanced
up at the darkening sky, then focused her attention on Twister. "It's
getting late, Knight. Come with me or else I'll 'play' with the Knight
Sabers till they fall apart."
The Bullet's black visor just continued to stare in the purple-haired
Genom psionist. Priss' swearing could be heard in the background as she and
Linna began moving again. Sylia was nowhere to be seen.
"Damn, damn, damn, DAMN!!!" Priss swore angrily as she struggled to
get the motoroid out of the rubble and standing once more. Whatever had hit
her did NOT behave like a normal blast; she'd been hurt inside the suit
more than she figured she should've been, as if it had passed _through_ her
protective armour somewhat. Same with her equipment as well, the circuits
must have been jolted something fierce as her movements were sluggish.
"Priss, are you alright?" Linna called over their private radio link
sounding concerned and not so hot herself.
"Just a lot of damn bruises, and what the FUCK hit us?!?"
Sylia's welcome voice spoke up. "I suspect it was some form of
psionic attack, likely telekinesis." Her tone turned arch. "Our friend,
Twister at the moment, seems to have neglected to mention Miss Madagan's
new talents."
"No shit," Priss replied, heaps of sarcasm in her voice.
"Where are you anyway?"
"Trying to find a better angle and...I've just noticed that there are
several more Boomers hiding in the area," Sylia reported offhandedly.
"Oh, perfect." At least her cannon was undamaged. She also noticed
that Twister hadn't moved or answered the Genom witch yet, the latter
getting impatient at this silent treatment.
"Well? Do I have to prove that I can?" she heard the waiting Madagan
say as the black and yellow suited woman slowly stepped down the slope of
the pile of rubble. Twister, alias the Bullet at the moment, still hadn't
said a word making Priss wonder what her friend was doing. Giving the rest
of them time? It wasn't needed as her systems were as recovered as they
were going to get.
Wait a minute.
"Hey, Linna, is it just me or is the witch coming too close to
Twister for comfort?" Priss queried.
"What are you talking about, Priss?" was Linna's distracted reply.
"Don't you think she would want to stay a certain distance away?"
True enough, as Priss had pointed out, Madagan hadn't stopped
advancing on the Bullet. She was off the rubble and on the level street.
What could be seen of her face suggested a person utterly fascinated with
something: the Bullet, or rather his visor.
"Must be doing something. Right, Linna?" No response from her friend
came, puzzling Priss. "Linna? Hey! LINNA!!"
Her shout got the green-suited Knight Saber to wake from the trance
she had started falling into. Linna shook her helmeted head to wake up
a bit more. "Huh? What was that, Priss?"
"I SAID Twister must be doing something psionic, and you were falling
for it too so WAKE UP!!" Priss cranked up the volume to emphasize her last
words.
"OW! Not so loud!" Linna complained, snapping fully out of it.
"Priss, Linna, get ready," Sylia's voice cut in. "I think someone's
been monitoring the area because the Boomers I see seem to be getting ready
to move. I'll take care of them, but there will likely be more."
Sylia's words turned prophetic as three Boomers leaped over the
pile to land behind Madagan, four more, two for each side of the street,
crashed through the walls of the constraining buildings. These four
advanced on the Bullet's seated figure, apparently intent on grabbing him.
"I don't think so, assholes! Come on, Linna!" Priss shouted and she
fired her motoroid's hand cannon a split-second ahead of Linna's. Two of
the Boomers around Twister were hit dead-on, rendering them dysfunctional.
"Two down, five to go!" Priss crowed, but then saw the angry figure glowing
yellow in front of Twister. The noise of the Boomers and their cannons had
shaken Madagan out of whatever Twister had tried on her and did NOT look
very happy.
"Oh, fuck," Priss swore with a sinking feeling.
That sentiment was echoed by Twister as he regarded Madagan's glowing
form. The addition of the Boomers wasn't helping his situation any, though
the destruction of two helped.
"You bastard...." Madagan ground out the word through clenched teeth.
"What the HELL did you try to do to me?!?" Her fingers flexed and unflexed
angrily.
Twister dismounted off his bike, and while the Boomers tensed around
him, they didn't do anything. "I have a trick I use to get people to avoid
noticing me. I just tried the opposite, focusing on my eyes, hoping it
would work so that I could get close enough to you to disable your suit.
Unfortunately, you were distracted." He shrugged. "C'est la vie." Using his
telekinesis he pushed his bike forcefully away from the soon-to-likely-be
combat zone.
Madagan was livid. "How DARE you take this...ME!...LIGHTLY!!"
"Shouldn't I? Trust me, I've faced worse," Twister replied in an
offhanded manner. "Though not as fashionable. What is that style anyway?
Early deep-sea?" he mockingly added. To himself he prayed that pissing her
off would do more damage to the Boomers than to himself when they
inevitably fought. He braced himself as he felt THREAT coming like it was
digging him in the ribs.
"DAMN YOU!!" Madagan screamed furiously and her suit glowed brightly.
The area around the Bullet seemed to explode as a three-story column of
fire erupted from the street. Both he and the two Boomers vanished in the
flames.
A Boomer behind Madagan protested at this. "But we were instructed
to capture him at all costs! This...squark!" Madagan had moved her anger
onto the doomed Boomer and it was slowly compacted into a volleyball.
She quickly re-focused her attentions as her recently acquired powers
screamed danger; this was precognition though the scientists at Genom
hadn't known about it. Once she realized she had it, Madagan decided it was
a good thing to keep silent about. The two Knight Sabers hadn't taken the
apparent roasting of their friend too well, Linna was rushing at the ready
Boomers and Madagan while Priss fired the motoroid gun again, at the Genom
exec. The glowing projectile tore though the air towards it's target but
never reached the prey. Psi power stopped it's flight and quickly reversed
it. Fortunately for Priss, Madagan was still new to her powers and the
singer was able to frantically dodge her own weapon. Linna, much to her
dismay, suddenly found herself unable to move herself when the amplified
psionist turned her attention on the green Knight Saber.
Madagan smiled unpleasantly at the fly she had just caught. "You
should really find out more about what you attack, insect. It may be more
than you can handle. Like finding that your heart has stopped." And with
her TK, she reached out.
Linna gasped from the sudden pain in her chest. It HURT!
Then, from the smoking crater the pillar of fire left, a roar came
amidst a sudden swirl of furious air.
"HURRICANE BLAST!!"
A horizontal torrent of atmosphere punched a hole through the smoke,
gained strength as it tore up distance and street before it reached a
surprised Madagan, hurling her backwards to crash into the pile of rubble.
Smoke rising from him, the Blue Bullet walked out of the smoke.
"I don't mind if you hurt me, well, actually I _do_ mind, but if you
hurt my friends you face me and my wrath next. DON'T think that
unimportant," he emphasized grimly to the stunned Madagan, then turned to
Linna. "You okay?"
"Yes," Linna sighed with relief. When Twister had knocked out the
cause of the pain her heart had begun beating again. "That scared me,
though."
"I don't doubt."
Priss flew the short distance to stand beside him. "Linna's okay, but
what about you?" Linna caught the faint concerned tone in Priss' voice and
actually looked at Twister's state. His biking outfit was singed all over
and charred over the worse parts. The helmet, only slightly sooty, was the
most intact article on his person. She didn't say anything but wondered how
close he had come to being barbecued.
Twister brushed ash off an arm. "Let's just say I'm not keen on
repeating the experience and I feel like calling it a night. I'll take on
my oh-so-humble-pie psycho-psi-sister if you want the leftover Boomers."
He indicated the two remaining androids protecting the almost recovered
Madagan, who didn't look too happy.
"Gladly, but can you take her?" Priss asked.
"Nothing's ever really certain but...maybe."
"You're a help."
"You aim at Boomers and I aim to please," he chuckled a little and
Priss could practically feel his grin, hidden as it currently was. "Ah,
round two approaches."
Indeed it was, for Madagan, the two Boomers flanking her, was walking
towards the three, strangely calm after being blasted hard into the pile
of rubble. Still mad, Twister suspected, but in control.
"So you finally decided to take this seriously, have you? Good."
"Look, I'm not coming with you to Genom, Madagan. Just go home.
Please?"
"I can't do that. Either you come with me or die."
"The latter's more attractive than the former but I'm taking option
three: kick your butt. Now _that's_ an amusing image." He looked over at
Priss. "Don't you agree?" The singer in her hardsuit snorted loudly in
aagreement.
"Very well! Then die!" Madagan started glowing again.
Twister got ready.
Chapter Eighteen
-----------------
Madagan stretched out her arms and her suit glowed once more, the
Boomers crouched, preparing to attack. For a moment nothing happened,
making Twister and the others wondering what Madagan was up to. They didn't
wonder long. Suddenly yellow lightning erupted out of the ground in front
of the Genom exec, the deadly energy arced upwards then flashed down at the
spot where the startled Twister stood.
"OH SHIT!!" he shouted, and frantically leaped high and backwards,
narrowly avoiding the electron stream that blasted his former position. His
feet prickled as they had been closest and nearly hit.
The two remaining Boomers ignored him as the two Knight Sabers were
higher priority targets in their programming. Both managed to get Priss and
Linna to the far sides of the street by tackling each one-to-one with their
back jet-packs on full power, the purpose to get the two out of the
way and not interfere with their Mistress. However, with both Sabers in
their motoroids the androids were not going to last very long unless they
were VERY lucky.
Madagan, on the other hand, never got a chance to launch another
lightning attack as Twister, eyes glowing blue through the helmet's visor
and aura glowing brightly around himself, moved with TK-enhanced speed
towards her. She barely managed to get hands and power ready to meet him
and their hands clasped together with a small thunderclap.
"Nice trick you started out with. Ripped electrons from the ground?
Not bad after such a short time psi-active," Twister managed to comment
after they had struggled for a few seconds. Madagan's suit made her
formidable, and he couldn't drag this on very long.
Unfortunately, Twister had finally finished his new Crystal Knight
suit, casting the spell upon the completed diamond armour early in the
morning. As a result of the powerful final spell, he was now very tired and
his availible energy was fairly low. During the day he hadn't visibly shown
this, even though Anri had asked if Darlene had lost some weight when they
had opened the store. The purple-haired Genom exec couldn't have picked a
better time.
Madagan smiled, though with a bit of strain. "I didn't need much
time to learn enough to face you with this suit. My mind was already well
trained and disciplined to handle my new abilities. You certainly don't
seem much more experienced," she observed with a little contempt.
"Hey, I've never had anybody to teach me," Twister defended himself
indignantly. "And when I've fought I don't make much use of psi unless
I have to."
"Then you are a fool."
"Or maybe I just like to fight fair. You needed that psi-amp on your
back to fight me on even footing so don't complain...wimp."
Her lips compressed in anger and was about to push harder when
he beat her to it in a strange manner. Instead of attacking her, Twister
yanked his hands from Madagan's, surprising and unbalancing her, and
directed the forces he had used towards the female executive to the ground
below her feet.
Road exploded with great force, flinging him backwards and Madagan
high into the air. Disoriented, even as she protected herself
instinctively, she flew through the air.
And was intercepted in mid-arc by another flying figure that swung
a blade at her semi-helpless form. Sylia in her hardsuit. The leader of the
Knight Sabers quite deliberately launched her blade into the equipment on
Madagan's back. If she had attempted to strike the psionist herself the
attempt would have failed because of Madagan's precognition, but as this
did not endanger her life the attack worked. Sparks and minor electrical
disruptions appeared around the blade as Sylia pulled it out of the
now-dark suit. Madagan screamed in rage as she sensed her advantage taken
away. The white-suited Knight Saber attempted to catch her but missed as
Madagan had stopped flying through the air and was now hovering.
As Sylia landed, a little surprised, Madagan shouted angrily,
"LET ME DOWN!!"
"Certainly," Twister said as he picked himself off the ground,
revealing to all that he was the one supporting Madagan. Priss and Linna
relaxed and dropped their weapons that they had been aiming at the furious
Genom exec. "But don't expect a warm welcome. Oh yes, I destroyed the
devices spying on us when your new Boomers appeared. Surprised you missed
it," he said, adding insult to injury.
Madagan's face paled as she realized that she was in a terribly
bad position to be demanding anything. When she reached ground she wasn't
released from the hold the Blue Bullet had on her and could feel she wasn't
going to be able to free herself. She was not strong enough now.
"What do we do with her?" Linna's chill voice frightened her. She had
not been nice with the green Knight Saber.
"Want me to make the call?" the Bullet inquired of the white-suited
Saber.
"As long as you do it quick."
"Gotcha." He walked up to the standing, immobile Madagan and sighed.
"Are you going to kill me?" Whatever he did she was determined to not
show fear. Nevertheless, when he shook his helmeted head she relaxed
slightly.
"No. I haven't killed a human being and even after you tried to
do kill me it wouldn't be right. Besides, Genom might be less interested
in me if you're still around to satisfy their curiosity in psi."
"Is that wise?" Sylia said, concerned. "Genom seems to have done quite
a bit of research already, she may accelerate that."
"Oh, I'll put them in reverse." His slightly mischievous tone raised
her eyebrows. Then he turned, away from the helpless Madagan strangely.
"And as for you, Madagan, I have to take away your toy."
This confused her. "What?" Then she heard ripping sounds, and felt...
Twister heard a very startled, outraged, feminine scream behind him
as he used his TK and had to grin. He then brought the outfit and equipment
he had taken off Madagan in front of himself and wadded it into a fairly
tight ball. "Could you take this stuff, Sabers?"
"Oh, gladly," Linna's mirthful voice replied and the green motoroid
with her inside picked it up. Priss was howling with laughter.
"You...you...you..." he heard Madagan sputter behind him.
"I'm sure you'll find something to cover yourself before a Genom crew
get here, Madagan. Me, I've got some things to settle with ADPolice
tonight."
"I'll make you suffer for this." was her coldly furious reply.
"Advice: Don't try." He waved behind himself as he walked away for
his bike. "Ta."
The Knight Sabers walked away with him. "That was a...practical way
of getting her suit," Sylia remarked with a wry tone.
"It was perfect!" Priss chortled.
"It _was_ the fastest way." Twister shrugged, unrepentant.
"And so modest, Bullet," Priss teased. "Turning away like that from
an attractive woman."
Twister reached his bike, managed it up, and got on before answering
the singer. "If you think of her like that maybe I could find a bow and
gift wrap her for you. For those cold, lonely nights in bed, of course,"
he added helpfully as Priss sputtered indignantly.
"She has a very big gun at the moment, Bullet, you'd better go quick."
Linna laughed.
"Right." He revved the engine. "I'll release her now so you'd better
go. Oh yeah, whatever you hear from my next encounter with ADPolice: don't
believe it. I'm going to play escape artist, but not let ADPolice in on it.
Especially if they try the same thing on me as they did to the Griffin. In
fact, I'm counting on it. Don't forget Priss," he added, "maybe next time
if Madagan tries again, oh mighty amazon. And if you spank her she may
actually behave. Or if you prefer, she'll spank you." Seeing the blue
motoroid cannon begin rising he quickly waved to them and tore off down the
street.
"He's going to pay for that," Priss ominously said.
"Time to go back to base," Sylia ordered, "and we'd better move
quickly."
Slightly surprised, Priss and Linna looked at each other, then both
turned to their friend and leader. "Why, Sylia?" Linna spoke for both.
"Something else may come up tonight and we'd best be ready," Sylia
replied mysteriously and all the way back home that was all either of them
could get out of her.
"You want to WHAT?!?" Leon stared at the radio incredulously.
"You heard me! If it worked that time then it'll work now! What's
wrong with that!?" Potter demanded. "We'll heard him onto that street and
block the entrance with patrol cars. The armoured tank you used last time
is already in position at the end. I don't want anymore comments from you,
Leon. Just. Be. There." And with that, he cut the transmission.
"Idiot!" Leon swore furiously. His car was already approaching
the spot Potter wanted him to be and the jerk hadn't even bothered to
check. They had temporarily lost the Bullet but suspected he was headed
towards the street Potter expected him to take. Leon, however, had almost
lost all the humour he had felt at the beginning of this fiasco. The amount
of cars taken out or damaged so far was worse than the Griffin affair; a
testament to the skill of the Bullet and the overzelousness of Potter.
Those Boomers turning up hadn't helped, but they had vanished as
mysterously as they had appeared.
Just then, something in his rear view mirror caught his attention,
something fast. Before he had a chance to recognize it, it had gone into
the next lane and slowed down enough to stay parallel to him. The Blue
Bullet! And he was jauntily waving at Leon.
*Cheeky bugger, to do that,* was his amused thought. The silver
windows that reflected lasers made his grin impossible for the biker to
see. He almost didn't turn on the radio to report this, but duty compelled
him. "Hey, Potter. The target is keeping parallel to me and appears to be
having a fun time."
"What?! The better not be a joke, Leon!" said Potter angrily.
"No joke. I'm turning onto the street you wanted and he's staying
right with me. Maybe he wants to surrender."
"That's impossible!"
"I'm going to check it out. See ya." He reached for the turn off
switch.
"Wait! Don't you..." Potter voice died with pleasing suddenness.
Leon slowly applied the brake and the Bullet decelerated to match.
They quickly came to a stop as Leon guessed that his companion was staying
with him. The Bullet, a few meters ahead and watching him, made no move.
Sighing, Leon checked his gun, just in case, and opened the door to get
out, standing behind it. For some reason the Bullet looked surprised, at
least that what Leon thought from the body language.
"Leon...McNickol. This is a surprise," spoke the Bullet.
In his turn, Leon was amazed the biker knew him, or a least well
enough to recognize him on sight. "You know who I..."
"I have my methods," interrupted the blue biker. "Doesn't matter.
I'm glad it's you with whom I speak with last."
"Last?" echoed Leon, a sense of dread coming over him. He began
lifting his revolver which was hidden from the Bullet's sight behind the
car door.
"Yes." The Bullet dismounted and faced Leon. "You see, when I heard
about the Griffin I felt a great sense of wanting to be as famous as that
car of the night. And so, I built this bike with all of my hidden talents
and love to achieve the same blaze of glory. Tonight," he added
dramatically, "will be my final and greatest performance."
*This guy is NUTS!* thought Leon incredulously and acted. He whipped
his gun up and assumed a firing position behind the car door. "Your act's
been cancelled, buddy, so just stay where you are. Besides, you'd never get
past the tank at the barricade up ahead."
The Bullet acted like he was happy about that. "Really? Could you
tell them to leave the area then?" Swiftly, the Bullet re-mounted.
"Stop where you are or I'll shoot!" Leon ordered.
Turning to talk to him, the Bullet added, "I'm going to make quite a
bang. Bye-bye." Then he pushed empty air at Leon.
A stunning force knocked the gun out of Leon's hands as he himself
was knocked over. As he recovered he heard two sounds, the Bullet driving
off and more ADPolice cars finally reaching his position from the same
direction he and the Bullet had come from. *What the hell did he hit me
with?* Shaking his head, Leon stood, recovering his gun in the process, to
greet the arriving police vehicles. Then he turned on his radio again.
"Potter, he's coming your way and I think you'd better get out. Now."
"Don't you dare turn off your receiver again and what the hell are you
talking about?!" demanded Potter.
"He may have a bomb."
"And he _told_ you this? Are you a complete idiot??" Potter demanded.
"It's an obvious ploy so he can escape."
"Dammit, Potter! This guy is crazy! He told me all..." Leon stopped
when another voice cut in.
"This is chopper three and I have a visual on the target. He's going
around 225 and climbing. Around mid-way point. Wait...something is..." the
pilot paused, then grew confused, "what the heck is going on?!"
"Get the visual!" Leon heard Potter demand. There was a few moments
of silence as Potter's team at the blockade looked at the feed they were
getting. Then...
"He's on fire??" an officer Leon didn't know said disbelievingly.
"BLUE flames?!" another cried.
"Dear GOD it's getting bigger!!"
"He's not burning! It's fake!" Potter shouted angrily.
"The road's MELTING BEHIND HIM, Potter!" the first officer retorted.
"I can't even see him anymore!!"
*On fire?* Leon wondered. *Melting?*
"This is chopper three! I can't keep up!" The pilot's voice was
beginning to reveal his panic. "Whatever it is, I recommend YOU GET OUT OF
THERE!!"
"GET OUT, POTTER!!" Leon yelled.
"EVERYBODY, EVACUATE!!!" Potter's scream blasted the speaker; Leon
hoped it was in time.
Thirty seconds later, Leon saw a blue glow, then a dazzleing white
light where he imagined the barricade had been.
Twister appeared in his hanger-sized room about three feet above the
ground, the engine of the bike roaring before quickly dying.
*I hope that worked.* He let the bike down to the ground and got off,
sighing with relief. *Would have been interesting if someone had stuck
around, good thing nobody did. Somehow, I doubt ADPolice will think the
Blue Bullet survived.* Twister stretched, then headed to his computer area,
remembering why he had done it and how.
He couldn't use his Blue Bullet persona anymore. Events that night
had shown that all too well and he had built the bike to relax, not to be
the object of a manhunt.
Spoilsports.
God, he was tired.
No, he had used the one enchantment that he had recently put on
his bike. Something he had dreamed up while finishing his new armour.
As he had accelerated past 220, the spell had started absorbing the
engine's heat to form a type of fireball around him and the bike, storing
the energy. Increased by his own TK, done by trying to heat up his own
engine, the fireball had gotten hot enough to melt through almost any
obstacle. When he had teleported, just as the front tire was about at the
point where the tank wall had melted away, all that was released, mostly
straight up and down. Mostly.
*Must've left a pretty big hole,* he mentally chuckled as he sat down
at his terminal. Then he noticed something on his screen, and swore.
He had 'visited' ADPolice by computer a few days ago and had set up
a flag that his supercomputer could monitor safely.
The flag had activated exactly one minute ago.
*Arrgggghhh!! Did he HAVE to attack NOW?!?! Damn.* Twister took off
his helmet and pulled out something unseen from underneath his riding
outfit. His fingers traced the invisible object, contemplated the other two
events that had already happened that night, and sighed wryly.
*Third time's the charm. But for whom?*
And here he had hoped he could munch on something before this.
Chapter Nineteen
---------------
Ten minutes before-
"Sylia!" Nene cried sobbingly into the vid-phone she immediately
used when she saw no one was finally around and the elegant leader of
the Knight Sabers answered.
Sylia was a little startled at Nene's tearful state. "Nene, what...?"
"Darlene's dead!" the young red-head cried, using Twister's female
name as she usually did. "I just heard a few minutes ago! Some kind of
explosion and there's nothing left! Nothing!"
Sylia sighed, she should have called earlier. "No, Nene."
"No?" Nene blinked her teary eyes in confusion.
"Aside from the fact that our friend can be...elsewhere when desired,
I believe whatever has you so upset was planned for ADPolice benefit."
"Elsewhere...? Oh! I forgot!" Nene's face reddened with
embarrassment. "But why do it at all??"
"My guess would be to make it seem as if the 'Bullet' was killed.
And succeeded, I assume, by your reaction," Sylia concluded wryly. "I doubt
there will be much of an investigation and/or search for him now."
"Could've told _me_ before doing it," Nene mumbled, slightly annoyed.
"Well, he did say he was planning something after the battle."
"Battle? WHAT battle?!" Nene was beginning to feel like she was
missing a lot tonight.
Smiling slightly, Sylia shook her head. "Best not to say anything
now. I'll fill you in later."
Despite her impatience, Nene released her breath in a faintly
annoyed "Alright." Then she heard a boom and felt the floor shake;
something normally not done by floors as a rule. "What was that?!" she
exclaimed, looking around.
"What's happening, Nene?" Sylia asked, concern on her face.
"Don't know! Gonna check it out." Nene reached to hang up the phone.
"Ne..." was all Sylia got out before the connection died. Quickly, she
stood up and hurried out of the room to get the others ready as Priss and
Linna had stayed at Sylia's request. The new suits were ready, and it was
time to use them.
It looked like what she had suspected was happening at ADPolice.
The black Boomer with several spikes on it's shoulder pads that was
now guarding the roof of ADPolice headquarters saw the two police
helicopters approaching. It's AI designated them as hostile and to be
destroyed for the Boomer's creator did not wish anybody else landing on the
roof. The target lock for the two airborne vehicles was swiftly done and
the mouth laser began glowing blue, about to fire.
It fired.
And missed.
Reason?
Something unseen had hit the cyberdroid in the torso just in time,
making it stagger backwards then steady. The two copters thought the missed
beam was a warning shot and were turned away by a concerned Dailey who had
seen the beam. The copters out of the way left the Boomer's full attention
for whatever had hit it.
"Well, FANCY meeting you here, Mr. Spikey Boomer!"
Someone black and armoured appeared near the edge of the roof;
apparently the one who had hit it. The Boomer's ID software came up with
a match: the Crystal Knight. However, some changes in the Knight's armour
had given a few microseconds difficulty in making his identity known to the
biotechnical terror. Most areas of the black inflexible plate potions of
the armour now had faint silvery designs, very visible against the light
absorbing armour. The visor was still undecorated, but now the lower
portion of the helmet covering the lower face was pushed outward slightly.
This was not the only addition. There were two raised strips on the
chestplate running diagonally from around the shoulder areas to the bottom
of the rib cage where the diapragm was; they weren't very thick and did not
join together. The only other major change to the slightly different armour
were additional rounded and streamlined forearm projections that tapered
off into the armour near the elbow and contained large holes on the other
higher end, obviously some kind of new weaponry.
Despite the difference, the Boomer had recognized it's new opponent.
However, the Knight's arrival had been prepared for by it's Master and it
was programmed to wait. This was not what the Knight expected and after ten
seconds of nothing happening, tried goading it.
"Hel-LO! Ah...yo? Machine o' death and mayhem?" Nothing. "Pardon me,
but you attack ADPolice choppers and ignore me? Yaright. Blow a circuit?"
Something occurred to the dark armoured figure. "Or... are... you...
waiting... for..."
"HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! So! You finally realized I expected you,
Crystal Knight!" shouted a voice from the previously ignored chopper on
the roof, confident in it's superiority.
The Knight turned to face Dr. Miriam. "Oh yeah, I'm just thrilled
to meet a mad scientist and his Boomer Babies. I don't suppose you care
to surrender?" He said this in a manner that showed he didn't think that
very likely.
Twister saw the fury grow on the mad doctor's face and got ready
for him to order the Boomer to attack.
The doctor had other ideas. "They are not BABIES!! They are my
MASTERPIECES to destroy the Knight Sabers! YOU are not fit to face them
and," he reached one hand into the helicopter and made a sudden movement,
"if the information I received is correct, you will be of much better use
to me as valuable research material." He laughed a little manically.
"What the heck are you...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" White-hot
railroad spikes lanced into Twister's head for an instant, making the rest
of the world forgotten in the moment of pure agony. Even as he raised his
hand to his head it vanished, but the after-effects left him reeling and
he staggered, almost going unconscious from the sudden lack of pain.
Elsewhere, on route to Genom tower, a seething Madagan, wearing
a large coat to cover her, suddenly widened her eyes in shock, then
doubled over when the pain registered.
Fortunately, being less sensitive she felt the pain far less. Even
still, her driver and bodyguard Boomers reacted with concern, but she waved
them off thinking it was a result of her earlier battle.
Not so.
"Wonderful! So you do have mental powers!" Miriam gloated as he saw
the Crystal Knight recover slightly from what he had done.
"What...the HECK...was that?!" Twister managed through his headache,
he tried to Heal it but whatever had happened seemed to have inhibited his
psionic powers temporarily somehow. He realized that this was a Very Bad
Thing.
"I'm told it was an experimental device operating on the theory
that it would disrupt a person's psi ability if they had any. Since
each human being has their own personal 'wavelength' it has to cycle
through all of them." Dr. Miriam smiled unpleasantly. "It seems you're very
gifted. All the better."
The Knight shook his head and took a deep breath to steady himself.
"Yeah. Right!" He leaped for the chopper to destroy the device.
It was a measure of how rattled Twister was to have neglected to
consider the very dangerous Boomer still on the roof. When it leaped to
prevent him from harming the doctor, he was still unable to use his
psionics and his attempt to do so allowed the Boomer to launch a fist that
landed on his torso. The Knight flew back to the edge of the roof, landing
hard.
Groaning and with one hand over his stomach, Twister got on his knees
to try to get up. He relied a lot on speed to avoid damage from Boomers,
and when unable to avoid getting hit resorting to psi. He wasn't feeling
very fast at the moment, was currently without psi, and this one had hit
HARD. Luckily the new suit had a weak force field around it; along with a
bunch of other options. He cupped his right hand as the Boomer advanced on
him and softly said, "C-Sphere."
Stored energy in his suit created a restraining globe of force, within
which air was superheated into plasma that strained to escape from the
constraining sphere. It left a faint comet-like trail when Twister threw
it hard at the enemy machine.
Not being a rocket, beam weapon, or something else familiar to the
Boomer the machine hesitated briefly, allowing the potent ball of energy
to hit and explode with a fiery blast. It threw the android violently back
with it's front armour melted slightly, unfortunately with no real damage.
"Tit for tat," Twister chuckled nonetheless. Suddenly, the pain came
once again. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" he screamed.
"For doing that to my creation I'm overjoyed the cycle hit your
wavelength once more!" Dr. Miriam angrily shook his fist at the black
crstalline armoured annoyance.
The doctor would soon be his own audience as Twister didn't think
he was able to keep himself conscious. He had been tired to begin with and
this hadn't helped. Whatever that thing was doing, the effect seemed to
have doubled because of the previous time. This was comprehended through
a foggy maze of pain, as well as the fact that the Boomer would be able to
have him for lunch now that he was in no way able to fight. Twister
couldn't be captured by this madman, who knew what he would do to him? But
escape seemed difficult now.
One chance. And it promised to be painful.
"Once more, with feeling," he groggily whispered. "C-Sphere." The
ball formed as the angry Boomer rushed at him once more, but he didn't
throw it at the android. He threw it to the ground in front of himself.
Two feet away.
The blast blew him backwards and beyond the edge of the roof.
*This has definitely not been a good night for me,* was Twister's last
fleeting thought before darkness rushed in.
Dr. Miriam wasn't angry; his Boomer hadn't been damaged enough to
matter and the Crystal Knight's last move was that of a desperate man. The
Knight Sabers were his real objective tonight anyway, the Knight he could
deal with later.
"Forget him," he commanded his Boomer. His masterpiece. "Go into
the building and destroy everything until the Knight Sabers arrive."
As the cyberdroid started towards the door, Dr. Miriam returned to his
helicopter to continue monitoring the progress of the building.
"Soon, Knight Sabers. Soon you will be no more, proving my
greatness!" he laughed insanely.
A half hour later, all four Boomers were destroyed.
So much for greatness.
Chapter Twenty
--------------
"Hey, sleepy head," called a voice that penetrated the darkness of
oblivion. "Hey! C'mon, you dope!"
Recognition flared. So did pain. "Shut up and let me die in peace,
Priss," Twister groaned without opening his eyes. He felt bruised and
tired. The bruises he tried to Heal, and thankfully it worked. Whatever the
crazy doctor had used didn't last long.
"He's alive," Linna sighed with relief.
A hard blow to the stomach surprised him, producing a grunt, and
a startled Twister opened his eyes. All the Knight Sabers in new-looking
suits were standing around him, or rather, around the Twister-shaped hole
he was currently lying in. The pink hardsuit had been the one to stomp on
his lower torso and the foot still rested there.
"What was that for?" Twister demanded, beginning to try to rise from
the hole. Nene moved her foot as he slowly got up.
"Not warning me beforehand about what you did with ADPolice! I
was worried!" Nene angrily told him. "And for worrying me _again_ when I
saw you here!"
"What happened?" inquired Sylia.
"Crazy doctor used some strange device on me that disabled my
psionics and it knocked me almost into unconsciousness. I blew myself
off the roof to escape." Twister levered himself out of his hole and
tried using his powers again when his head pulsed with pain from a killer
headache. He sagged a little in relief when he found he was able to Heal
a second time and the killer headache disappeared.
"BLEW YOURSELF OFF?!?!" chorused Nene, Linna, and Priss incredulously.
"Even Priss isn't that dumb!" said a startled Nene.
"HEY!!"
Hiding her amusement as Nene and Priss started arguing, Sylia asked,
"How did you slow your fall and survive if you couldn't use psionics?"
"Air brakes," Twister said in an Ernest sort of way, and chuckled
at the assorted groans. "Added feature of the new suit, just in case."
"Nice. Getting decorative?" Linna said, pointing at the
designs on the black plate.
"It needed it."
"What else does it so?" asked Priss, curiously.
"Later. Where's that doctor?"
"ADPolice caught him. They'll be here soon," said Sylia.
Twister straightened at the news. "I'm going to destroy that thing
he had and ask where he got it from. Thanks for worrying about me, but I'd
better hurry. See you later!" Before anyone could protest, he vanished.
"Chee! Thinks he can do everything," Priss grumbled.
Sylia shook her head. "It's best he does it now before ADPolice get
their hands on that device."
"How's that headache you got, Sylia?" Linna queried.
"Fine. We'd better go; it's been a busy night." Sylia turned and
started walking away. The rest followed, except for one.
Linna turned when she noticed.
"Priss?"
With a grin on his face, Daley watched the helicopter belonging
belonged to the terrorist who had taken over ADPolice headquarters land
on the street. When the blades had stopped moving the door opened and
a cheerful Leon holding the collar of a sullen Dr. Miriam stepped down
the stairs with the prisoner.
"So, finally decided to join us, eh, Leon?" Daley cheerily said.
"You could say that. Been a busy night for both of us." Leon grinned.
"Well, you got my character; how did you handle yours?"
Leon shrugged. "Not mine. Potter's. And that didn't go as well
as this did."
"Now _that's_ debatable. Headquarters is a mess right now," Daley
ruefully said, then added, "I did hear some of the reports. Did the
guy really kill himself?"
Leon nodded. "He talked to him before he did it and he sounded like
a real loon. Took out a large chuck of bridge doing it." He shook his head
at the waste. Then he spotted Lisa, the captain's niece, passing by and she
looked slightly distracted. "Hey, Lisa!"
Surprised, Lisa looked up and saw the trio over by the chopper, then
looked down at the camera in her hands and smiled. She raised it into
position and took a picture while the two ADPolicemen posed. Lisa lowered
it to say, "Thanks!", but she noticed the three were all staring at
something behind her. Whirling around she saw the object of their
attentions.
Walking in a straight line towards the chopper, through people that
avoided him, was the Crystal Knight. Despite the change of the new armour
compared to the old, he was quickly recognized by Lisa. ADPolice did too,
but those gathered around weren't sure of what to do as the reason for the
Knight's visit was unknown. He stopped right beside Lisa.
"Hello again," he greeted her. "As you can see, I'm wearing my armour
this time."
"So it WAS you!" Lisa gasped, remembering when they had literally
bumped into each other on that roof. "What are you doing here?"
His answer was directed at the frowning captive. "To get a few
answers out of Dr. Miriam here."
"Hold it!" Leon called out before the doctor could speak. "He's a
prisoner of ADPolice and, despite the help you've given in the past, you're
still a vigilante."
"Oh, come off it, Leon," the Knight said, disgusted. "All I need are
a few answers and something in that aircraft of his," the Knight calmly
said.
"Why don't you use your psi-powers or are they still unavailable?"
Dr. Miriam queried maliciously.
Blinking, Leon and Daley looked down at their captive in confusion.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Leon demanded.
"Shut up, Miriam," the Knight demanded and one of his characteristic
crystal swords appeared. He advanced a little.
"Stop right there, Knight," Leon commanded the black plated and
silvery designed figure. "He's still our prisoner."
Meanwhile, Miriam was unimpressed with the Knight's display. "Looks
like you've recovered if you're using telekinesis. What will you use next?
Telepathy?" Suddenly, he smiled unpleasantly. "I see no need to continue
this idiotic farce anymore."
Puzzled and confused at the confidence in Miriam's voice, Twister
hesitated, wondering what was going on with the doctor attitude change.
The answer came terribly quickly.
Lancing pain erupted in his mind for the third time that night and
his sword shattered into vanishing motes of sparkling dust.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" he screamed, falling to his knees and
hands. Everyone except Miriam was shocked at the agony the scream
described even with the distortion the suit normally applied to his voice.
Dazed, he heard Leon react.
"What the hell?" Leon said, surprised at what had happened.
Instinctively he knew the cause and shook his captive. "What did you do,
asshole?"
For an answer, Miriam moved his arms surprisingly quickly and grabbed
Leon and Daley. Then, with strength that was definitely NOT normal, he
hurled them both away, sprawling, in different directions.
Someone in the crowd of police cried out, "Android!!" Weapons were
raised.
"Stop!!" The android of Dr. Miriam commanded. "Fire and I will
trigger the explosives hidden in the helicopter and destroy most of the
surrounding area, including yourselves." Understandably, the police
hesitated, making the doppleganger grin as it walked over to the gasping
Knight.
*So much for staying with the anime version,* Twister berated
himself, mostly for not scanning with his senses and discovering about
the fake.
"That you were fooled by my deception is no surprise," the mechanical
clone gloated. Then frowned. "But that was not my goal. Those new suits
were an unknown. An unknown I shall be ready for next time." Something
landing behind it made it turn around, and then glare at the new arrival
with hate.
It was a blue hardsuit.
"Hey, you damn machine, how about taking me on?" Priss taunted, one
arm raised in firing position.
"And can you be sure I can't detonate the copter before you destroy
me?" the android of Miriam retorted.
The blue suited Knight Saber hesitated.
Twister had seen enough. If the cycle on the damned machine was still
running he would be hit hard again and likely fall unconscious again.
The head. The head had to be completely destroyed and the android was not
likely to be armoured. His armour's other weapons were still mostly untried
and the way he was feeling he doubted he would be able to aim them
properly. Suit - out. Psi - out. But there WAS one thing he could use...
"Well? What will you do? Or should I detonate it right now?" the
android mocked.
"Bastard machine..." Priss' arm wavered. Then firmed for some reason.
When she spoke next, it sounded like she was smiling. "You know what I'll
do?"
The android's brows furrowed; this was strange behaviour for a human.
"I think I'll watch."
"What?!?"
"MOUKO TAKABISHA!!!" cried the Crystal Knight from behind the android
and before the machine could do anything the ki power Twister had gathered
was unleashed in as powerful a blast was he could make it, aimed right at
the copy's head and upper body. The force of the almost point-blank ki
blast slammed into the android and the metal head was blown apart into a
million pieces, thrown up into the sky along with most of the upper torso.
Headless, what was left of the body fell to the ground.
Priss lowered her arm and watched Twister sigh with relief. "Was that
another one of those weird moves?"
"Yeah," he tiredly answered, standing up slowly. "As much ki as
I could manage that quickly and narrowly anyhow."
"I like it."
The Knight snorted audibly in amusement. "Surprise there. You'd
better get going," he added seeing the police force around them start to
lose their hesitation. "And thanks; I owe you one."
"You sound like you're dead on your feet," she retorted. "And oh, I'll
collect eventually," Priss answered him in a devilish tone. "Maybe when I
get you back for those comments earlier." And then she activated her
jumping jets, swiftly leaping away.
"Oh, joy," Twister muttered. "Why do I feel a sinking sensation?"
"Hey, Knight!"
Startled, the armoured psionist looked at the helicopter and saw
Leon waving at him. Remembering about the device that had disabled him, he
rapidly strode over to the ADPolice officer. Twister noticed some people
moving around inside the chopper that must have ran inside right after the
Miriam android was destroyed.
Leon saw his glance and nodded inside. "Bomb squad. That thing was
right about the explosives."
"Great. Thought that it was going to blow it up anyway so I took
it out." The Knight shrugged. "Sorry, us vigilantes can be mean." He tried
Healing the headache he had and got a faint response, lessening the pain
slightly. It appeared the device's effects didn't last very long past one
of it's cycles.
The lieutenant gave him a wry look. "I noticed. You do realize that
the only reason I'm not ordering your arrest right now is that I don't
think I could stop you from getting away. True?" He chuckled at the
Knight's helmet looking innocently up at the sky. "I'll let somebody else
tackle that job, thank you very much."
"Hey, Leon," Daley called from inside the copter. "I think I've
got some really strange piece of equipment here. We had to disconnect it
before we could get to the explosives."
A strong sense of danger began building in Twister halfway through
Daley's message. "Oh, SHOOT!!" Twister cried and before anybody could stop
him, rushed inside the helicopter and came out immediately with a large
metal box that had a few lights, displays, and wires hanging from it.
With all his might and recovering telekinetic power he threw the box
into the air. He stood rigid as he kept accelerating the box upwards with
his mind until....
BOOOOOOM!!!
A large explosion safely above the city marked the end of the device
that had given him so much trouble.
"I'm getting REALLY annoyed at this Miriam character," Daley stated
as he looked up at the fading explosion from the door of the helicopter.
"Better make sure of the android's body as well," said the Knight
and he turned to the remains. Holding his two hands together straight out
in front of him and all fingers pointing at the target, Twister said,
"Laser Lance."
Ten small laser beams leaped from each of the black fingertips and
merged into a powerful, single one where a glowing torus had appeared a
hands span from the closest fingertip. With deliberate precision, Twister
sliced apart the lifeless form of the android into harmless chunks of
metal. He noticed his armour beginning to get heavier so he was relieved
that he had finished in time and stopped the beam; the armour started
losing weight again as it gathered light to recover from the power loss.
"New armour's more powerful I see," Leon commented, a tinge of envy
and frustration in his voice.
"Yeah, and I'd better get cloaking. Good-bye." With that parting
shot, the Knight vanished, startling many ADPolice who had been watching
him. "Oh, yeah," his disembodied voice called. "Thanks, guys! And I won't
destroy your pictures, Lisa," the Knight added with a chuckle, making the
young photographer start, then flush with embarrassment.
"Why is it that everybody else in this crazy town has better
equipment than us?" Leon asked the empty air.
"They don't have to worry about boards and politicians," Daley
answered with a sigh, coming up beside him.
Leon echoed him and leaned on the helicopter. "I wish we had better
stuff."
"Be careful what you wish for, Leon," whispered the Knight's voice,
right by his ear.
"HOLY!!" The ADPolice lieutenant jerked away, caught totally
off-guard and surprising Daley.
"Leon?!? What's wrong??"
"He... I..." Leon waved haltingly at empty air for a few seconds
before sighing in defeat. "Never mind. Let's get this mess cleaned up."
"Riiight." Daley still looked at his partner strangely as he walked
away.
Levitating ten feet above Leon, Twister quietly laughed.
*Only one thing left to do today, then I think I'll collapse
into sleep. What a day.* He sighed. *I never even got a spare moment
to think about what Sylia told me. Tomorrow then; I'm too tired now.*
He teleported home.
