Here's the latest addition to BG Cross! Hope to have 3 of 3 sometime this
weekend ;) Enjoy! C & C welcome privately or on the ML :)
BubbleGum Cross
Metal Heart - Part 8 - 2 of 3
(c) 1996 by Andy Skuse
askuse@execulink.com
Based on characters copyrighted by Youmex, AIC, Artmic
Part 8 - 2 of 3 - "Avatar"
Sylia paused for a moment to gulp a few breaths of air. She had just
wriggled free of her opponent's clamping grip, narrowly avoiding a steel fist that had managed to graze the surface of her visor. Now she stood waiting, as
the black, metallic, cybernetic being reset for its next attack, pushing Sylia to try
to counter at a grueling pace. She was finding it more and more difficult to get
her breath back between 'rounds', while her opponent did not appear to be
tiring at all. As she dodged yet another leaping attack, her suit's power-scale
readout began to beep a preliminary warning. Eyeing the red warning halo
momentarily, she was caught off guard by the boomer's next assault. The last
thing she saw, before sailing backwards in a smooth, shallow arc, was a
gleaming, ebony hand, outstretched in her direction. Her flailing body was
deposited unceremoniously in a heap on the floor, some fifteen feet away from
where she had originally stood.
A feeble attempt to regain her feet was interrupted by a powerful kick to her shoulder, flipping her over onto her back to land another ten feet further from
her original starting point. Sylia's opponent stood towering over her prone form
to stare down at its prey, its twin eye-beams locked onto her neck. Raising its
right leg, so that its foot hovered just over her neck, the boomer's eye beams
flared red for a moment, its artificial instinct signalling its victim's defeat.
The boomer's plunging foot was halted inches away from Sylia's
unprotected neck by a long, thin, silvery blade, projecting from a sheath in her
suit's right arm covering. Using all her remaining strength, Sylia swept her arm
to the side, blocking the boomer's crushing attack with the flat of the blade.
Staggering to her feet, she watched the boomer quickly recover its lost balance,
and turn to face her. Through her visor, the boomer's eyes always appeared
green in the night-vision filter, but outside her helmet, the boomer's glare had
turned a shade of deep red. A high, ear-piercing scream emanated from within
the cybernetic being, its rage only now beginning to surface.
Sylia detected the creature's sudden anger in its new, more cautious
stance. The two combatants circled each other slowly, oblivious to the other six
beings that fought within the hall. Her visor's display screen showed a
dangerously low power-level. Dim flickers of light from nearby weapons energy
bursts illuminated half of her opponent's face, briefly transforming the
creature's emotionless features into a grim mask of focused, deadly intent. A
faint crackle in her headset intercom reduced the anxious moment to a wary
pause.
"Sylia!" It was Nene's voice, tired and edged with fear.
"Nene- are you alright?" Sylia responded anxiously, suddenly remembering
that she was not alone.
"No! I've run out of ammo and my main power is just about depleted. I've
still got backup power, but it won't be enough to do any good at this rate!"
Sylia sighed, feeling for the first time that maybe they were in over their
heads. "Nene, hold on! You can't beat these *things* with our usual
m edium-range tactics. You have to-"
"No shit!" Priss' intercom signal interjected, "Linna and I- (umph!)- are
getting our butts kicked royally! My weapons are useless unless I get close enough . . . to dance with these bastards!"
Linna's frustration-filled voice echoed her companion's observations, "Sylia,
I can keep out of their way for a little while longer but we've got to think of
some way to knock them down a rung or two or we're done."
"Linna- " Sylia started, with a touch of angry defense in her voice, "We are
never done until I say so. Understand?"
Linna's reply came back after a noticeable pause, "Yeah. I'm sorry. You're
right! So what- (unh!)- can we do?"
Sylia glanced back to regard her still circling opponent, and the decreasing distance between them. "We have one last chance before we head for the exits;
move to the center of the room. So far they've hurt us by splitting us up- maybe
we can slow them down by taking their 'divide and conquer' strategy away from
them."
Three fatigue-filled, but hopeful voices responded positively, as the Knight Sabers began to draw their opponents into a tighter battle.
****
Five miles away, along the MegaTokyo Bay parkway, a black motorcycle screamed past a handful of scattered, commuter-filled cars, making their way out of the city's downtown core. The rider was concealed by a dull, black, layer of plastic armor plating and a black helmet, the visor tinted a dark grey. Swinging idly at his hip, was a scratched, metallic cylinder, a thin strip of polished steel extending from the free end. The rider shifted gears smoothly, and applied the throttle, propelling the gleaming bike past a knot of slower cars ahead of him with a sudden burst of speed.
The motorbike's shadow flickered on the road beneath its wheels as it
passed under the unending row of amber streetlights that extended out over
the parkway's width. Almost straight ahead in the distance, the dark outline
of the Matsumi Military Research building loomed against the deepening,
violet skyline.
****
Leon crouched down, and sighed with relief as he leaned back against
the comforting stability of his AD Police car. Above him, two news-media
helicopters slashed the cool night air, as their searchlights played over the
parking lot in random sweeping patterns. The noise and fluctuating light
only succeeded in increasing his tension. He nervously checked his supply
of magazines for his pistol, and then caught himself as he paused for a
moment to think about Linna. 'No!' he angrily told himself. 'Push her out of
your head McNichol or you're gonna screw up! She knows what she's doing
and the job comes first. That much you agreed on.'
But they had made their agreement two years ago when they first started
dating; a time when boomers were a thing of the recent past. Their
agreement had meant a very strong relationship- at least symbolically. Now
their pact was being put to a real test. A test that was similar to the one which had torn him away from someone else he had once cared very deeply about.
Shaking his head as if to scatter the disconcerting thoughts to the four winds,
he breathed out noisily and tightened his grip on his gun.
Poking his head up over the car's hood, he could see the occasional flashes
of light coming from just inside the hallway of the main entrance of the military
building. Halfway between his position and the building, he saw General
Reeves hunkered down behind a black and green all-terrain military vehicle,
with two soldiers to his sides. Sitting back once more against the car door, he
focused his thoughts and then leapt up from his hiding place.
"General!"
General Reeves turned to look behind him and saw the officer that had been called in as a 'boomer expert'. "Looks like they were boomers after all Officer McNichol, or they're human and they had some serious fire-power shoved up
their-"
"General," Leon interrupted anxiously, "Is there anything your troops can do to help the Knight Sabers in there?"
The expression on the general's face did not offer much hope. "Officer, we tried to reason with them earlier. Then we tried a rooftop assault with a projected loss of life of around ten percent. We couldn't even get inside. No-one was killed but we just could not get in. I'm still baffled as to how the Knight Sabers succeeded. But it's their ballgame now. I lost thirteen security personnel when this all started and I don't intend to lose anymore."
Leon holstered his gun hesitantly, and looked around him at the one
hundred or so troopers that had now relaxed somewhat, as the fire-fight
seemed contained to the building itself. Some were engaged in what looked
like idle chit-chat while others were sitting against the wheels of their vehicles
to rest or enjoy a cigarette. Anger mixed with worry pushed Leon toward the
limit for his patience. For all he knew, Linna and the others could be in serious
trouble.
As Leon stared in frustration at the general's face, the mask of hopelessness disappeared, replaced by a look of unconcern. Slowly, the general's reluctance to assist the Knight Sabers began to take shape in Leon's mind. The hostages were freed and now they just had to wait. No sense wasting any more good men for four women in hard-suits who had made a deal. A deal that didn't
require the general to help them if they got in over their heads.
Leon grabbed the general's jacket-front with both hands and exploded.
"You son-of-a-bitch! It's the money isn't it? If the Knight Sabers go down
then you're off the hook! Well, that might save you twenty million in the
short term but if they die then you'll have to deal with those 'boomers' yourself! And from what you've told me, you're going to end up burying more than thirteen security personnel before this is over! "
The general looked at Leon's hands still clenched tightly around his jacket's lapels with a feigned disinterest. "Officer, are you finished? If you
don't mind, I've got a situation to deal with here. Your assistance is no longer necessary." Leon stared at the general, stunned for a moment at the cold truth in his words. This wasn't his headache and he had no jurisdiction here. He was just an expert advisor and nothing more. Suddenly Leon realized that after five years of inactivity, the Knight Sabers were not only expendable in the general's eyes, but had become a forgotten urban myth in a city that had moved on with the problems of a new, more peaceful era.
"Damn! Stupid computer!" Macky reset his satellite transceiver's
co-ordinates for the fifteenth time, and then initiated the white-noise
'follower' signal for output. His fingers tapped nervously on the edge of the control console, as he waited for a confirmation of a lock from his end of the chain. Like Leon, his thoughts drifted to the welfare of someone he cared about who might be in serious trouble. But there was nothing else he could
do about it. The motoroids were too big to get inside the military base to help. Sure they could take out a wall or two but that was something he couldn't do unless Sylia ordered it. He had to put these thoughts out of his head, and focus on his own "attack" plan.
As questions of when he should disobey his sister's orders bounced around his head, a thin, green, bar of light suddenly began to crawl steadily across a map of the heavens, dotted with tiny red triangles and their co-ordinate
identifiers. His face lit up as the bar reflected off of a second red triangle and
made its way off his screen to the unknown target of his signal. Macky smiled at
his success. "An eye for an eye, scumbag."
Leon stood frozen to the spot, seething with a burgeoning anger. As he
entertained the crazed notion of driving an all-terrain vehicle through the front doors and right down the boomers throats, the muffled drone of a motorcycle
engine briefly overcame the noise coming from the military building. He turned
to where he thought he'd heard the sound and saw a figure in black armor
sprinting across the floodlit lawn of the base. AD Police officer's and soldiers
alike rose lazily to their feet to see what some of their fellow troopers and
officers were pointing at. Leon watched the swift figure, comparing its
appearance to the boomers he'd seen on the videotape. Before he could warn
the general of his suspicions, the armored figure had vanished over a wall and
then leapt onto the roof.
****
"Sylia, I just lost my main power!"
Sylia turned to look at Nene who was now only a few feet away to her left.
"Don't panic Nene. You should have backup power by now."
Nene checked her reserve power scale on her display screen, and sighed as the scale suddenly rose from zero to one hundred. "Yes! It's online now."
The migration to the center of the room had been slow and arduous, but now the four Knight Sabers stood in a rough-square, defensive formation. At first
it appeared to confuse the four boomers, their attacks being reduced to probing slashes and kicks, which prompted Priss to unleash a few more precious rail-gun spikes. Like the rail-gun, her laser weapons had proven just as ineffective, putting more holes in the walls than in her opponent. In fact she had not yet succeeded in actually hitting her opponent with her range
weapons, other than a few lucky point-blank attacks, which had done little to
slow her opponent's attacks.
Linna found it harder and harder to deal with the impending sense of
defeat that ate at her now. Although Sylia had reminded her about when to fall
back and regroup, she could not help wondering why her boss did not see this as one of those times. The boomers were no longer testing the Knight Saber's
new defense tactic. They were using it to close a four-sided noose around
them. It was as if they were playing some giant chess game and their
opponents had foreseen their every move. As the boomer in front of her edged
forward menacingly, Linna thought of Leon for a brief moment, and then froze,
as her eye caught something falling overhead.
Descending from the ceiling above, a shard of glass tumbled end over
end, dislodged from its tenuous perch in the frame of the shattered skylight by something. For a moment, it looked to her like a single, gleaming emerald in her
green, night-vision display.
With only a sharp whistling sound as a warning, all four boomers lunged
forward to grapple with their prospective victims. Sylia, Nene, Priss and
Linna fought to break the vice-like grip that had suddenly encircled each of
their necks, threatening to crush their windpipes.
****
"Yes Sir. As you can see for yourself we are about to complete the final
phase of the field test as you predicted. Power expenditures were well below
the-"
"What was that?"
Leomund's confident tone quickly faded into a nervous mumble over the vidphone, as he waited for the anonymous investor to elaborate on his query.
"Sir? What was what?"
"Leomund . . . what was that 'shadow' that just passed in front of- there
it is again."
On the huge multi-vision screens in the main control room of the
mountain laboratory, a shadowy blob had briefly obscured the second camera view of the military base's hall, where the four cybernetic beings stood poised
to claim their victory over the Knight Sabers. Leomund slowly put down the
vidphone handset, and stared hard at each of the four screens in turn,
scanning every dark corner for any sign of movement. Suddenly a static-lined,
knife-shaped glow erupted from a point just behind the cybernetic being closest
to the second camera view.
Macky sat nervously on the edge of his seat, as the co-ordinates on his
computer screen continued to climb. After another five seconds, the number
halted its ascent, and an audible 'click' was heard from the satellite dish on
top of the Knight Sabers utility van. On his screen, two words in bold capitals,
began blinking at a steady, pulse-like rate; "TRANSMISSION COMMENCING"
A tiny bead of sweat drizzled lazily over the crease-lines that furrowed Leomund Sholtan's forehead. His eyes were glued to the dark figure that refused to co-operate by standing just to the edge of the security camera's
range. Just when Leomund thought he might scream in frustration at the massive video screen, the shadow stepped into the middle of the dim
view.
The figure appeared to be wearing a suit of armor, making it difficult to distinguish from the four 'test subjects', except that it carried a weapon of some
kind that emitted a thin ribbon of laser light, and that its outline distinguished
it as a male. The figure took another slow step towards the camera, revealing a
little more detail, and then . . . a roar of white-noise from the multi-vision's
speakers filled the mountain laboratory's control room, as the view on all four
screens were suddenly engulfed by rapidly moving pixels of grey, white and
black.
End of 2 of 3 - Part 8
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BG Cross
The Dark Traveller
askuse@execulink.com
Co-Maintainer of the Fanfic ML FAQ
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